'God Is With Us'

Earlier today Vladimir Putin spoke with reporters, and he had some interesting things to say. Most importantly:

Reporter: Do you believe that the conflict will be over by 2025?

Vladimir Putin: “I believe in God. And God is with us.”

Sounds like a Yes.

But also of interest, Putin revealed that Zhou had tried to snooker him earlier with a delayed entry to NATO for Ukraine, way back in 2022. In the context of the question—regarding reports of Trumpian peace plans—Putin’s response strongly suggests that the known negotiating strategies being bruited about by Team Trump will go exactly nowhere. However, the Russians will probably be willing to spend a bit of time talking, while military operations continue:

Putin Reveals Biden Offered To Postpone Ukraine's NATO Entry As Compromise

Russian President Vladimir Putin fielded questions from journalists Thursday at the conclusion of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting held outside St. Petersburg. The Russian-led EEU economic bloc includes member states Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Among the more interesting moments was when Putin revealed what President Biden previously offered him in order to avert the Ukraine conflict, regarding the question of Kiev's NATO membership.

The comments came in the context of a question over Trump's reported peace plan and the idea of freezing the front lines. Putin described that such a plan is nothing new, and added the following per state media translation:

"I know that the current President Biden spoke about this, it’s no secret, back in 2021. He proposed exactly this to me – to delay Ukraine’s admission into NATO by 10-15 years, because [Kiev] is not ready yet," Putin said, referring to the midsummer meeting he had with the US leader in Switzerland.

🇷🇺 Putin revealed that US President Joe Biden suggested in 2021 that he would postpone Ukraine’s accession to NATO. https://t.co/OKa9rMykkd pic.twitter.com/XWwZUCIG0v

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) December 26, 2024

[Putin] stressed that no matter the timeline, Ukraine's admission into NATO would be unacceptable "whether it’s in one year or ten years."

"We, too, are striving to end the conflict," Putin added, but stressed that this should happen by achieving all of Moscow’s military and political objectives, according to RT.

Toward this end, Putin during the Q&A proposed Slovakia as a 'neutral' potential host country for future peace talks:

Russia is ready to use Slovakia as a venue for negotiations, as the country maintains a neutral position, says Putin.

- So much for neutral Switzerland pic.twitter.com/MuZS58H9aZ

— Russian Market (@runews) December 26, 2024

Last week Putin met with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Moscow. Fico, who survived an assassination attempt on May 15 of this year, has been blasted by European leaders as cozying up to Putin. But Fico in response has proclaimed that Putin has been "wrongly demonized" by the West. He also characterized the Moscow visit as about defending Slovakia's sovereignty and energy security.

Fico described in the meeting's aftermath Russia is willing to continue supplying gas to Slovakia, but that Ukraine's refusal to renew a key gas transit deal with Moscow makes getting the supplies "practically impossible".

Putin on Thursday reiterated that Russia is willing to sell gas to anyone...

🇷🇺🇵🇱 PUTIN OFFERS GAS TO EUROPE

“Just press the button and the gas will go through the Yamal-Europe pipeline, it was Poland that blocked our route” — Putin

Europe rather deindustrializes for some reason. pic.twitter.com/SfxLjChUbH

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) December 26, 2024

…

Lastly:

Russia Says It Has Shot Down A US-Made F-16 Over Ukraine

Moscow is claiming that its forces have downed a US-made F-16 aircraft given to Ukraine just as the warplane was preparing to launch a missile strike from over a southeast region of the country.

"The F-16 aircraft was in position to launch a missile strike on the region, and it was shot down," TASS reports Thursday. The alleged downing has not been acknowledged by Ukraine, the Pentagon, or any outside entity.

State-run RT has also described that "One of the F-16 jets donated to Ukraine by NATO has reportedly been downed while attempting to launch missiles at Russia’s Zaporozhye Region."