Putin Claims Ukraine Will Lose Western Lands and That Everyone in Ukraine 'Has Fallen Out'

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin told his military on Sunday that Ukraine will eventually lose its western lands, that left-bank Ukraine has always been part of Russia, and that everyone in Ukraine has fallen out with each other. He spoke at a meeting with Russian navy personnel, with excerpts published by Kremlin-aligned TASS and Telegram channels.

Putin, as usual, claimed that "there is no aggression on Russia's part" and that Russia was "forced to launch the SMO in an attempt to end hostilities already started by the Western side and the Kyiv regime." The Russians refer to their unprovoked war of aggression as the "special military operation" (SMO).

He falsely claimed that Ukraine's west was a gift from Joseph Stalin, but that Stalin had given these lands not to Ukraine but "within the framework of a single state." Putin stated: "By the way, I'm certain that sooner or later Ukraine will lose these western lands. And what belonged to Poland, Hungary, Romania will, sooner or later – maybe not tomorrow, not the day after, in a year, two, 10, 15 – but everything will historically fall back into place."

Putin did not explain why Ukraine should lose its western territories. He also called Russia – the aggressor that has spent five years killing people in Ukraine and destroying its cities – the sole guarantor of Ukraine's territorial integrity. "There was only one guarantor of Ukraine's territorial integrity – and that was Russia. But they considered it necessary, possible and beneficial for themselves to declare Russia their enemy, and Russians not a titular nation in Ukraine, which is complete nonsense and rubbish," he said.

As part of a pseudo-historical digression, Putin claimed that "historically, Ukraine was always divided into left-bank and right-bank – the left bank was always considered not just oriented towards Russia, but part of Russia." He asserted that Lenin gave Donbas not to Russia but to Ukraine, and that the aggressor state now "has to put everything back on a normal historical course."

Putin also claimed that the war against Ukraine will end sooner or later, with "the enemy defeated and victory belonging to Russia." He tried to convince his military that in Ukraine "everyone there has clashed, fallen out with each other, like spiders in a jar, dividing up the money they stole from the Ukrainian people or are stealing from their Western sponsors, dividing it up and destroying each other, fleeing abroad, hiding, coming back again – what kind of unity is that."