By Epoch - Chris Summers-12/19/2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready for “compromises” over Ukraine in possible talks with President-elect Donald Trump but said Russian forces were in a strong position. Speaking in Moscow during his annual end-of-year press conference, Putin said the military was “advancing” toward achieving its goals in Ukraine.

While Putin said Russian forces were advancing across the entire front in Ukraine, he also said, “We have always said that we are ready for negotiations and compromises.”

“Soon, those Ukrainians who want to fight will run out, in my opinion, soon there will be no one left who wants to fight. We are ready, but the other side needs to be ready for both negotiations and compromises,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also challenged the West to a ‘high-tech duel’ to see if they could protect a target in Kyiv from Russia’s Oreshnik missile.

During a question and answer session after his main speech, he was asked if he would be willing to meet Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025.

Putin said he had not spoken to Trump for several years but would be happy to meet with him.

“If we meet with Mr. Trump, we will have things to discuss,” said the Russian leader, adding that Moscow was in a strong negotiating position.

“Russia has become much stronger over the past two or three years because it has become a truly sovereign country. We are standing firm in terms of economy, we are strengthening our defense potential, and our military capability now is the strongest in the world.”

During the election campaign, Trump said he believed he could end the Ukraine war quickly.

Putin has said in the past he is open to discussing a cease-fire deal with Trump but that he would not make territorial concessions and that Ukraine must abandon plans to join NATO.

During Thursday’s question and answer session, Putin was asked about Russia’s new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile, which Moscow used for the first time on Nov. 22 to strike Ukraine.

He mocked claims it could be intercepted by NATO’s air defenses and challenged the West to a “high-tech duel” to see if they could protect a target, chosen in advance, in Ukraine.

“Let them select a target, possibly in Kyiv, put their air defense assets there and we shall strike it with Oreshnik. Let’s see what happens,” he said.

Russia has made significant land gains in eastern Ukraine in recent months and is close to taking Pokrovsk, a major road and rail hub.

Putin said it was “difficult and pointless to guess what lies ahead.”

“We are moving ... toward solving our primary tasks, which we outlined at the beginning of the special military operation,” he said.

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But Russia suffered a setback this week when the head of its Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces, Lt. Gen Igor Kirillov, was killed by a scooter bomb planted outside his apartment building in Moscow.

Kirillov Killing a ‘Major Blunder’

Putin, making his first comments on Tuesday’s bomb attack, said allowing Kirillov to be killed was a “major blunder” of Russia’s security agencies and that they needed to learn from it and improve.

The Russian leader was also asked about Syria, where the Kremlin’s close ally Bashar al-Assad was recently ousted as Syrian president and forced to seek sanctuary in Moscow with his family.

Putin denied it was a setback or made Russia look weak, saying it had achieved its goal of destroying terrorist groups in Syria.

Story continues below advertisementHe said the rebel groups fighting against Assad had changed and that the West was reaching out to them.

“That means that our goals have been achieved,” Putin said.

He said Russia had made proposals to Syria’s new rulers about the Kremlin’s two military bases there and that it was wrong to suggest Moscow’s influence in the Middle East was over.

The Russian president said he planned to speak to Assad and the new Syrian rulers about the fate of missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice.Reuters contributed to this report.

Epoch - Chris Summers