Rubio's insight: Putin doesn't want peace, wants all of Ukraine

From the Hill / Yahoo!News:

"Putin says Russia will take Ukraine by ‘military means’ if talks fail

Sarah Fortinsky, December 17, 2025

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the Kremlin is prepared to use “military means” to achieve its goals in Ukraine if diplomatic efforts with the West fail to satisfy Moscow’s demands.

In a speech at an annual meeting of the Defense Ministry Board, Putin said he would prefer to pursue diplomacy but made clear he would not back down from Russia’s initial goal of “liberation of its historical lands,” a phrase used to justify the invasion of Ukraine.

“The goals of the special military operation will certainly be achieved,” Putin said in his speech, according to state media outlet TASS.

“We would prefer to do this and address the root causes of the conflict through diplomacy, but if the opposing country and its foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive discussions, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands through military means,” he continued.

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov laid out plans at the meeting for expanding military advances into Ukrainian-controlled territory, The Associated Press reported.

The remarks come as the Trump administration has redoubled its efforts to strike a peace deal in recent weeks. While President Trump insists that Putin wants a peace deal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised doubts about that in an interview with Vanity Fair published this week.

“There are offers on the table right now to basically stop this war at its current lines of contact, OK? Which include substantial parts of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which they’ve controlled since 2014. And the Russians continue to turn it down,” Rubio told the magazine.

“And so … you do start to wonder, well, maybe what this guy wants is the entire country,” he added...

Asked about Putin’s latest comments, White House spokesperson Anny Kelly said Trump believes the two sides are getting closer to a peace deal.

“Over the past few weeks, the President’s team has made tremendous progress with respect to ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, and as the President stated, he believes we are closer now than we have ever been,” she said in an emailed statement."