Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday stood firm on his demands to end the war with Ukraine, offering no concessions on the conditions he had previously set. He accused the European Union (EU) of attempting to "steal" his country's financial assets held in European banks.
According to Qatar News Agency, in remarks following the decision by EU leaders to abandon a plan to use frozen Russian assets to support a loan to Ukraine and instead resort to borrowing to help finance Kyiv's defense capabilities against Russia over the next two years, Putin said, "The bloc backed down from the original plan because it would have had serious repercussions, as it would have damaged its status as a safe haven for assets."
He warned of the consequences that this process, which he described as "daylight robbery," would have caused. He also demanded that Ukraine abandon its ambition to join NATO and withdraw completely from four regions he claimed were "Russian territories," reiterating his commitment to all the conditions he had set for ending the war.
In contrast, Kyiv refuses to relinquish the territories that Russian forces have failed to capture during the nearly four-year-long war.