Putin announced a 660-kilometer "safe zone" in Ukraine, 70% of which is controlled by Russian troops

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the 16th that the Russian army was establishing a "safe zone" in Ukraine along the Russian-Ukrainian border, adding that this was a non-discussable matter in any future peace negotiations with Kiev. According to a Kremlin spokesman, the safe zone Russia intends to establish spans 660 kilometers, but did not specify the extent of its penetration into Ukraine.

Reuters reported on the 16th that Putin rarely wore military uniform to inspect a command post on the 16th and spoke to senior generals, saying that the mission of the Russian army is not only to expel the enemy from Russian territory, but also to establish safe zones in adjacent areas. This work is being carried out effectively.

He said that the establishment of the safe zone was in response to the Ukrainian army's invasion of Russia's western Kusk region from 2024 to 2025. Russia's purpose is to "ensure the absolute security of Russia's border areas in the future" and therefore "does not intend to include this matter in possible peace negotiations with Ukraine."

Kremlin spokesman Peskov said that the planned safety zone stretches for 660 kilometers, 70% of which is currently under the control of the Russian army. However, he did not specify how deep this safe zone goes into Uzbekistan.

Putin has spoken in the past about the need to establish such safe zones, but has never made it clear how wide the plan will be, nor has he said that safe zones are not part of the negotiation agenda. To form this safe zone, the Russian army must seize land in the Sumi and Kharkiv regions in northeastern Ukraine; these two regions are not among the territories that Russia has claimed to control in Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

This conversation comes at a critical moment for diplomatic mediation in the Ukraine-Russia war. The week before, the United States and Russia reached an agreement to sell Russian diesel to the United States and the global market. Putin won the favor of U.S. President Trump, while the relationship between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy became tense again.

In his speech on the 16th, Putin praised the Russian army's effectiveness in attacking Uzbekistan's military, industrial and logistics facilities, but also admitted that there is still room for improvement in Russian air defense. He said that about 10% of the land in Udonetsk Oblast and 16.5% in Zaporozhye Oblast have not yet been captured. Uzbek drones have successively attacked multiple Russian data centers and a large oil refinery in the past nine days, and the Russian military has also continued to bomb many Uzbek cities, power plants and ports.