Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proclaimed that Vladimir Putin would "die soon" due to his age, but the Russian leader is showing no imminent signs of slowing down—at least not when it comes to his goals regarding the invasion of Ukraine. Putin on Friday engaged in some "tough talk," calling for a "transitional administration" to be put in place in Ukraine, in lieu of Zelensky and his people, and for the Russian military to "finish off" Ukrainian troops, reports NDTV.
Putin said that such a "transitional" team—which he suggested could fall under UN governance, per the AP—would be tasked with organizing "a democratic presidential election that would result in the coming to power of a competent government that would have the confidence of the people." Only after that can a more lasting peace agreement beyond the current shaky, limited ceasefire be formed and signed, in Putin's eyes. Ukrainian law, however, prohibits elections during wartime, and even Zelensky's political foes in Ukraine agree that such an election should be held off until after the war is over, per the Moscow Times.
As for Ukraine's fighters, Putin was clear on how he wants to handle them going forward. "I was saying not so long ago: 'We will finish them off,'" he said, per NDTV. "Now there are reasons to believe that we will indeed finish them off." He added that although things are going more slowly than he'd like, "we are ... nevertheless persistently and confidently moving toward achieving all the goals stated at the beginning of the special operation," using the term he often uses in place of the word "war."
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Zelensky on Friday pushed back at Putin's remarks. "He is afraid of negotiations with Ukraine," he said during a presser, per the AP. "He is afraid of negotiations with me personally, and by excluding Ukraine's [government], he is suggesting that Ukraine is not an independent actor for him." (More Vladimir Putin stories.)
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