Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov inspect weapons and special military equipment at the Mulino military training ground in the Nizhny Novogorod region, Russia, on September 16, 2025. PHOTO: Valery Sharifulin / Zuma Press / Profimedia
Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to send an important signal to the United States and European powers on Friday about his desire for peace or a continuation of the war in Ukraine when he speaks at a marathon year-end news conference, Reuters writes.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine, triggering the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the end of the Cold War.
US President Donald Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly complained that ending the war in Ukraine is one of the most elusive foreign policy goals of his second term in the White House.
Putin, the supreme leader of Russia since the last day of 1999, will hold a year-end press conference and accept a question-and-answer session with the population, starting on Friday, December 19, at 09:00 GMT (11:00 Romanian time).
Putin, expected to answer dozens of questions
At the “Results of the Year” event, which Putin has held in various formats most years since 2001, the Russian president answers dozens of questions about everything from rising prices and his own future to nuclear weapons and what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Conference attendees had to undergo a COVID test — still routine procedure for meetings attended by Putin (aged 73) years after the pandemic ended.
At stake is whether Putin will agree to end Europe's bloodiest war since the end of World War II, tell the extent to which European powers are marginalized in the negotiation process, and whether or not the peace deal negotiated by the United States will be accepted.
Ukraine and its European allies are worried that Trump could “sell out” Ukraine and leave European powers to foot the bill for supporting the war-torn country after Russian forces occupy 12-17 square kilometers per day in 2025, Reuters notes.
Kiev and Europe agree with former US President Joe Biden, who said the Russian invasion was an imperial-style land grab for which Moscow must be punished, a view disputed by Trump.
Putin sees the war as a turning point in relations with the West, which he claims humiliated Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 by expanding NATO and infringing on what he sees as Moscow's sphere of influence.
The end of the war could reconnect Russia – which has some of the world's largest reserves of natural resources, from oil and gas to diamonds and rare earths – with the United States, just as Washington tries to refocus on competing with China, with which Putin has struck a “borderless” partnership.
Continuing the war would lead to many more casualties, drain the economies of Ukraine, Russia and European powers and increase the chances of the conflict escalating.
US officials say Russia and Ukraine have suffered more than 2 million casualties, including dead or wounded, in total since the war began. Neither Russia nor Ukraine divulge credible estimates of their losses.
