Putin Says Russian 'Security Zone' Inside Ukraine Is Off the Table in Peace Talks

Since Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region, Moscow has talked about a buffer zone along the border. On Friday, Oct. 16, Vladimir Putin put a hard line around it: the zone is not up for discussion.

Speaking in military uniform during a visit to a command post of Russia's joint force grouping, Putin said Russian forces were tasked "not only with expelling the enemy from our land but also with establishing a security zone in the adjacent territory." He called the effort successful.

"Our goal is to ensure the absolute security of Russia's border regions for the future," he said, "and we do not plan to make this a subject for potential peace negotiations with Ukraine."

The numbers behind the zone

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov put figures on it. The planned zone spans 660 km (410 miles), and Russian forces control 70% of that stretch. Peskov did not say how deep into Ukraine it would reach.

Putin has raised the idea before. He had not previously spelled out its planned extent or said it would be off-limits for talks.

Finishing the job requires Russia to carve out land in Ukraine's Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Neither is among the territories Russia has claimed as its own since it launched the war in Ukraine in 2022. That is a different kind of demand from the Donbas claims: land Moscow has not claimed, now declared permanently outside any bargaining.

Putin also gave his own battlefield tally. He claimed Russia has captured about 6,500 square kilometers of territory and taken control of 310 settlements in Ukraine since the start of the year. These are the Russian president's figures, and independent verification is difficult due to the ongoing war.

He said Russian forces have yet to capture just over 10% of Ukraine's Donetsk region, which he called a key objective, and 16.5% of the Zaporizhzhia region.

Strikes and the shaky energy truce

The remarks came after President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire on energy infrastructure between Russia and Ukraine on Sunday. Both countries have since accused each other of violating the truce.

On Thursday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine will resume its strikes after a three-day halt. The Kremlin said Russia was continuing contacts with the US concerning the truce.

Putin framed Russia's strikes as retaliation. "In response to strikes by the Kyiv authorities against our industrial and fuel-and-energy facilities, the Russian Armed Forces continue to carry out strikes on enterprises of the military-industrial complex, as well as on infrastructure facilities in Ukraine," he said. He said it is essential to continue delivering "massive, coordinated" strikes.

Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov briefed Putin and said Moscow has begun launching "massive" strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure. "A list of these facilities has been established, along with the necessary complement of assets required to strike them," he said.

Putin also conceded a weakness: there is still room for improvement in Russia's own air defenses. In the past nine days, Ukrainian drones have attacked several Russian data centers and a big oil refinery, while Russia has continued to pound Ukrainian cities, power plants and ports.

Diplomacy around the speech

Putin spoke one week after a deal to sell Russian diesel to the United States. The deal has won favor with Trump and prompted a new souring of the relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy.

Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's investment envoy, said earlier that Russia and the US were discussing a range of new joint projects, including nuclear-powered data centers, in the wake of the diesel agreement.

The contrast is stark. Washington and Moscow are talking commercial projects while Putin tells his generals that the security zone is permanently outside the negotiating table. Peskov did not say how deep the zone would reach inside Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities did not immediately comment on Putin's and Gerasimov's remarks.