Putin says no peace in Ukraine until his goals are achieved

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed there would be no peace in Ukraine until his goals are achieved and said those objectives remain unchanged at a year-end news conference on Thursday that offered the leader an opportunity to reinforce his grip on power.

Giving rare detail on what Moscow calls its special military operation, Putin dismissed the need for a second wave of mobilization of reservists to fight in Ukraine — a move that proved deeply unpopular in the past. He said there are some 617,000 Russian soldiers currently there, including around 244,000 troops who were called up to fight alongside professional Russian military forces.

The Russian president, who has held power for nearly 24 years and announced recently he is running for re-election, was greeted with applause as he arrived in the hall in central Moscow.

Putin did not hold his traditional news conference last year after his military failed to take Kyiv and as the Ukrainian army retook swaths of territory in the east and south of the country.

But with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now forced to plead for more U.S aid, a stalling counteroffensive and reports of fracturing Western support for Ukraine, the Russian president has decided to face the media once more — though the broadcast remains heavily choreographed and more about spectacle than scrutiny.

This year, ordinary citizens have the chance to phone in questions along with those asked by journalists, and Russians have been submitting queries for Putin for two weeks.

It is the first time the Russian leader, who has heavily limited his interaction with foreign media, will potentially face multiple questions from Western journalists since the fighting in Ukraine began.

The news conference opened with questions about the conflict in Ukraine and highlighted concerns some Russians have about fears of another wave of mobilization. In September 2022, Putin ordered a partial military call-up as he tried to boost his forces in Ukraine, sparking protests.

"There is no need" for mobilization now, Putin said, because 1,500 men are being recruited into the Russian army every day across the country. He said as of Wednesday evening, a total of 486,000 soldiers have signed a contract with the Russian military.

Putin reiterated that Moscow's goals in Ukraine — "de-Nazification, de-militarization and a neutral status" of Ukraine — remain unchanged.

He spelled out those loosely defined objectives the day he sent troops to the country in February 2022.

"De-Nazification" refers to Russia's allegations that the Ukrainian government is heavily influenced by radical nationalist and neo-Nazi groups — claims derided by Kyiv and the West.

Putin has also demanded that Ukraine remain neutral and not join the NATO alliance.

"There will be peace when we ... achieve our goals," Putin said, repeating a frequent Kremlin line.