Russian President Vladimir Putin likely to escalate war with Ukraine

Putin is resisting calls for peace talks and may escalate the war, sources say, as Ukraine intensifies drone attacks on Russian fuel tankers and supply routes

Russian President Vladimir Putin is rejecting calls to negotiate peace with Kyiv, three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters, with Ukraine’s recent drone strikes on Russia’s oil refineries and ports strengthening his resolve to keep fighting for now. 

Two of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Putin was instead likely to escalate the conflict, now well into its fifth year. One of them, who meets regularly with the president, described a “high probability” of escalation in the coming months. 

The comments come after United States (US) President Donald Trump on Monday said that Putin wanted the war to end and that a resolution was closer than people realise. Trump held separate phone calls with Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week.  

 

He met Zelenskyy at the Nato summit on Wednesday where the Ukrainian president said they discussed ideas to bring peace closer. The White House did not respond to requests for comment. 

One of the people familiar with Putin’s thinking said he had dug in his heels to achieve the key objective of capturing the remainder of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, where Russian advances have slowed this year. The same source said Putin recently rebuked a group of advisers suggesting a compromise based on a ceasefire along the current front lines. The second source said Putin believes Russia will soon capture the Donbas. The Russian president publicly rebuffed a call by Zelenskyy in June for a meeting and a ceasefire. 

Ukraine hits more tankers 

Ukrainian drones hit a dozen more Russian tankers in the Sea of Azov overnight, Ukraine’s military said on Thursday, the latest in a campaign aimed at disrupting fuel supplies to Russian forces and isolating Moscow-occupied Crimea.  

The vessels were used to supply fuel to the Russian military, and to transport oil and petroleum products in circumvention of international sanctions, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said on Telegram.

 

It added that a tugboat and a dry cargo ship were also hit. 

The strikes bring the number of vessels targeted in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea over the past four days to 36, according to Ukraine’s defence ministry. Those included 32 so-called Russian “shadow fleet” tankers and two dry cargo ships. “They were all trying to deliver fuel to Crimea,” the ministry said.