Kiev was instructed by its backers to keep fighting, according to the Russian president

FILE PHOTO. A Ukrainian soldier nicknamed Yakut covers his ears as National Guard troops fire a 120mm mortar from the Kreminna Forest at Russian positions, Ukraine. ©  Scott Peterson/Getty Images

Kiev was open to withdrawing its troops from Donbass and ending the conflict in 2022, but ultimately changed its mind at the insistence of the West, Russian president Vladimir Putin told journalists on Wednesday.

During a press conference in China, Putin said that shortly after the escalation of the conflict in 2022, Moscow urged Kiev to respect the choices of the people living in southeast Ukraine and withdraw its troops from the region. This would have ended the conflict “immediately,” he noted.

The Russian president stated that these demands “were not rejected outright” by Ukrainian authorities. However, after Moscow withdrew its own forces from around Kiev at the “insistent calls of our Western European colleagues,” the situation changed completely, Putin said.

After the troops were pulled back, “we were told, almost verbatim, ‘now we will fight until you twist off our heads, or we will twist off yours,’” Putin recalled. “I don't remember whether I ever said this publicly or not, but it sounded something like this. Only in more crude terms, but quite openly and, as strange as it sounds, in a comradely way: ‘now it's either you or us.”

 

READ MORE: Moscow lays out terms for ‘comprehensive peace’ with Ukraine

Moscow has described its conflict with Kiev as a proxy war in which the Ukrainian people have been used as “cannon fodder” to further the interests of the West. Russian officials have also repeatedly accused Kiev’s European backers of consistently derailing any efforts to resolve the conflict.

Putin said on Wednesday that it is still possible to reach a peace deal, particularly given the “sincere desire” of US President Donald Trump to find a solution to the crisis.

However, he stressed that if a solution is not found, Moscow is prepared to defend its interests and achieve its goals through military means.