“HUMILIATED” Vladimir Putin is desperate for a big victory in Ukraine and will not sue for peace, a report claims.
The increasing isolated Russian despot is no longer interested in negotiating with Ukraine and just wants to capture as much territory as possible.
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Three insiders close to Putin has told the FT that the “humiliated” autocrat had initially been open to a peace deal after his troops failed to reach their military objectives in the first few weeks of the war.
But that was scuppered when Putin was left red-faced by the sinking of the flagship Moskva in the Black Sea by Ukrainian Neptune missiles.
“There was hope for a deal,” one insider told the FT. “Putin was going back and forth. He needs to find a way to come out of this a winner.
“After the Moskva, he doesn’t look like a winner because it was humiliating.”
Putin is also uninterested in sitting at the negotiation table with his Ukrainian counterpart President Volodymyr Zelensky, sources said.
And in a phone call on Friday, the deranged Russian leader apparently told the European Council President Charles Michel that it was “not the right time” to broker a deal.
“He wants everything to be decided before their personal meeting,” the source said.
President Zelensky told reporters on Saturday he is still open to peace talks with Russia.
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The source said Putin’s comments are an indicator that he wants to seize as much territory in Ukraine as possible before suing for peace.
It comes as a Russian general last week said his goal was to establish “full control” over Ukraine’s eastern Donbas and southern regions.
Reports also suggest Moscow might try to host a number of fake referenda in the occupied territories and absorb them as part of Russia.
And there are also concerns Putin could go further and invade the breakaway statelet of Transnistria in Moldova.
Russian general Rustam Minnekaev said the Putin’s aims expanded further than Ukraine, taking in all of its coastline and beyond.
Moldova, with a population of 2.6million, summoned Russia’s ambassador on Friday after he said Moscow was seeking to create a pathway towards a breakaway region of the country which already hosts Russian troops.
Transnistria, also known as Pridnestrovia, is a small region in the former Soviet republic of Moldova where pro-Russian separatists have been armed and backed by Moscow.
It bears similarities to the Russian speaking regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine’s east which broke away from Kyiv in 2014.
It comes as Russia continues to fail in its war aims, with Putin believing he could conquer Ukraine in a matter of days.
Ukraine’s military claims Russia has so far lost close to 22,000 troops in the unwinnable conflict, which is set to enter its third month.
And they claim the invaders have also seen more than 2,200 armoured vehicles lost or destroyed and 181 planes and 154 helicopters shot down.
Russian troops have been forced back from Kyiv, which has been a political disaster for Putin, who’s lost dozens of commanders.
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