According to reports from Russian media, on July 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated during a conversation with Navy officers in St. Petersburg that Russia is the sole guarantor of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
That day, Putin said: “I believe that sooner or later, Ukraine will lose these western territories—those lands that once belonged to Poland, Hungary, and Romania. It’s just a matter of time, maybe not tomorrow or the day after, but in a year, two, ten, or fifteen years. Everything will eventually return to its historical place.”
Putin referred to western Ukraine as a “gift” from Stalin to post-World War II Ukraine. “Stalin gave these lands to Ukraine, but within the framework of a ‘unified state.’ Clearly, he never imagined the situation we see today.”
Putin argued, “There is only one guarantor of Ukraine’s territorial integrity—Russia. Yet they consider it necessary, feasible, and beneficial to view Russia as an enemy and label Russians in Ukraine as a ‘non-core ethnicity.’ This is utter nonsense, complete rubbish.”
That day, Putin also stated that Russia has not started any war. “We are simply responding to the war that the Kyiv regime, with Western support, launched against what was once southeastern Ukraine—regions that have always been loyal to Russia.”