Putin says Russian 'security zone' inside Ukraine will not be part of peace talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday 16 October that Russia is creating a “security zone” inside Ukraine along the border, and that it will not be up for negotiation in any future talks with Kyiv.

Speaking in military uniform during a visit to a command post, Putin said in televised remarks that the armed forces had been tasked “not only with expelling the enemy from our land but also with establishing a security zone in the adjacent territory”. He linked the operation to Ukraine’s 2024–25 incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.

“We do not plan to make this a subject for potential peace negotiations with Ukraine,” he said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the planned zone stretches 660km, of which 70% is under Russian control. He did not say how far it would reach into Ukraine.

LBC and The Guardian reported that the zone would require Russia to take land in Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions, which are not among the regions Moscow claims as its own. LBC reported that Putin had spoken of such a zone before, but had not previously set out its extent or said it was excluded from talks.

Putin also said Russian forces had yet to capture just over 10% of the Donetsk region and 16.5% of the Zaporizhzhia region.

The reports reviewed for this story did not include a Ukrainian government response to the security-zone remarks.