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Putin Declares “Whole of Ukraine Is Ours” and Leaves Sumy’s Fate Uncertain

At the St. Petersburg forum Putin framed the offensive as necessary to safeguard Russia’s security.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin speaks during a plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Saint Petersburg, Russia, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov
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Pedestrians walk past a monument destroyed by Russian bombing in Sumy, north-eastern Ukraine, on June 12, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sumy was the starting point for a Ukrainian raid on the Russian region of Kursk, partly occupied by Kiev for eight months, before being repulsed in the spring by the Russians, supported by a North Korean contingent. Since then, Moscow has been advancing rapidly towards the regional capital, claiming to have captured several villages.
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Overview

  • President Vladimir Putin asserted that Russians and Ukrainians are “one people” to justify claiming the entirety of Ukraine as Russian territory.
  • He said Russian forces are establishing a buffer zone in the northeastern Sumy region and did not rule out capturing the city of Sumy itself.
  • Putin reiterated that his military campaign aims to safeguard Russian security and referenced Ukraine’s 1991 declaration of neutral independence.
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected the narrative that the two nations form a single people.
  • Kyiv and Western governments condemned Russia’s territorial claims as illegal as Russian troops intensify operations in eastern and northeastern Ukraine.