Moscow has hoped to mend relations with the United States while continuing to wage war in Ukraine, but Mr. Putin’s insistence on pushing his offensive has come at a diplomatic cost.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia allegedly does not plan to capture Sumy. However, he cynically added right away that he "does not rule out" such a possibility, according to Putin’s statement at the plenary session of SPIEF-2025 (St.

He made the statement publicly, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “I have said many times that I consider the Russian and Ukrainian peoples to be one nation,” said Putin, drawing applause from the audience.