Reuters: Putin Rejected Trump's Ultimatum
13- 15.07.2025, 20:05
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The Russian dictator is preparing for a new escalation in Ukraine.
Donald Trump's threat to impose 100 percent duties against Russian oil-buying countries and a 50-day ultimatum demanding a cease-fire have failed to shift the thinking of Russia's top leadership.
Vladimir Putin is not daunted by the prospect of tougher U.S. sanctions and is determined to continue the war until the West agrees to his terms of settlement, he told Reuters three sources close to the Kremlin.
They said Putin's territorial claims could widen as Russian troops, who already control a fifth of Ukraine's territory, advance.
A new escalation on the battlefield is possible in the coming months, one of the Reuters interlocutors said. Two other sources said Putin could fight until Ukraine's defenses collapse, despite losses that Western intelligence estimates at a million killed and wounded.
"Russia will act on the basis of Ukraine's weakness," one source told Reuters. He said Putin could halt the offensive if he takes full control of all four annexed regions while meeting resistance from the Ukrainian armed forces. If the front crumbles, "an even bigger battle for Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Kharkiv will begin," the source said.
Putin is still demanding legally binding guarantees that NATO will not expand eastward, that the territories it has seized will be recognized, Ukraine's armed forces will be limited and the Russian-speaking population in the country will be protected. He is willing to discuss security guarantees for Kiev from world powers, although it is not yet clear how they might work, sources told Reuters.
"Putin believes that no one has seriously talked to him about peace terms in Ukraine, including the Americans. So he will continue until he gets what he wants," the agency's interlocutor said.
At the same time, Reuters' sources said, Putin believes Russia holds the advantage not only on the battlefield but also economically, as the country's production of bombs and shells is higher than all NATO countries combined.