Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on Thursday repeated his demands that Ukraine pull out of the Donbas region in the east of the country, days ahead of a scheduled visit by a US delegation for peace talks to end the ruthless war.

“Ukrainian troops will withdraw from the territories they occupy, and then the fighting will cease,” the Russian leader told reporters.

“If they don’t withdraw, we’ll achieve this through military force,” he said, as reported by the Kyiv Independent .

Moscow has illegally occupied the eastern Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia since September 2022, when it held sham referenda in the territories.

The Donbas, or “Donets Coal Basin,” is a heavily industrialized region made up of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Putin also confirmed a U

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