Putin Declares Progress in Ukraine Conflict and Surge in Missile Production Amid Trumps Peace Appeals

On Friday, President Vladimir Putin asserted that Russian troops were making significant progress along the front lines in Ukraine and announced an increase in missile production, shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump urged him to conclude the war or face new sanctions.

“Our forces are advancing on the entire contact line… in the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson,” Putin stated to the press, portraying the current military offensive as a reclaiming of what he referred to as Russian territory. “It belongs to us,” he emphasized.

These statements followed a report from the Russian Defense Ministry, which claimed that its troops had taken control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar after more than a year of intense combat. The Ukrainian military denied this claim on Thursday, prompting Putin to label military officials in Kyiv as “uninformed.”

During a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at the Valaam Monastery in northern Russia, Putin maintained that he was open to peace talks, despite escalating assaults on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, including a missile strike the previous day that resulted in over 30 fatalities.

“We require a lasting and sustainable peace that is based on solid principles, which would benefit both Russia and Ukraine and guarantee the safety of both nations,” the Kremlin leader remarked. “Perhaps the Ukrainian negotiators, who have cautiously suggested that we should consider broader European security, are correct.”

Putin also addressed Trump’s earlier comments, in which the U.S. president expressed his “great disappointment” over Putin’s decision to carry out deadly strikes against Ukrainian cities following their “pleasant and respectful” phone discussions.

“High expectations lead to disappointment,” Putin stated, adding that negotiations should occur “quietly, within the serene atmosphere of the negotiation process.” He described Ukraine’s initial response toward compromise as “positive,” although he did not provide further details.

Lukashenko, supporting Putin’s viewpoint, criticized Trump’s August 8 deadline to end the conflict.

“This is a military situation. You can’t just issue demands, particularly when speaking with a nuclear power,” the Belarusian leader stated, ridiculing the notion of imposing a deadline for peace. “Honestly, it just makes me laugh.”

In what may indicate Moscow’s determination to continue its military campaign in Ukraine, Putin also revealed the deployment of Russia’s first operational unit of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik hypersonic missile.

“We’ve prepared the first mass-produced Oreshnik system, which is the initial missile in the series. It has already been delivered to the troops for deployment,” he informed reporters at the Valaam Monastery. “The production line is now operational.”

Last November, Putin unveiled the Oreshnik, which Western officials described at the time as part of a Kremlin propaganda initiative aimed at rekindling nuclear anxiety in Kyiv and Western capitals.