Putin calls for Zelensky’s removal, ‘finish’ Ukrainian troops

Russian President Vladimir Putin called a “transition administration” to be installed in Ukraine on Friday, promising his army would “quit” Ukrainian troops, in hardline notes when US President Donald Trump presses for a ceasefire.

An approximation between Washington and Moscow since Trump’s return to the office and the US leaders’ threats to stop supporting Kyiv has strengthened Putin’s confidence for more than three years into the war.

The renewed invitation essentially to overthrow Ukrainian leader Volodymy Zelensky was the latest demonstration of the Kremlin leader’s long-standing desire to install a more Moscow-friendly regime in Kiev.

Zelensky dismissed Putin’s call to a UN-driven administration as the Russian leader’s latest trick to delay a peace agreement.

When he spoke on the sidelines of an Arctic forum in the early hours of Friday, Putin said Russia could discuss with the United States, Europe and Moscow’s allies, “under the auspices of the UN, the opportunity to establish a transition administration in Ukraine.”

“What to organize a democratic presidential election that would result in coming to power from a competent government that would have people’s confidence, and then begin negotiations with these authorities about a peace agreement and sign legitimate documents,” Putin added.

When he launched his offensive in 2022, Moscow aimed to take Kyiv in a few days, but was repelled by Ukraine’s smaller army.

Putin also issued a public invitation to Ukraine’s generals to overthrow Zelensky, which Putin has repeatedly put down without providing evidence as a neo -Nazi and drug addict.

Moscow has also questioned Zelensky’s “legitimacy” as a Ukrainian president, after his first five -year mandate ended in May 2024.

According to Ukrainian law, elections have been suspended in times of major military conflict, and Zelensky’s domestic opponents have all said that no ballot should be held after the conflict.

Putin, by power for 25 years and repeatedly elected in votes without competition, has through the conflict accused Ukraine of not being a democracy.

At a press conference in Kiev, Zelensky said “everything” Putin “delays any opportunity, any steps toward ending the war”.

When asked by Putin’s remarks later on Friday, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was motivated by what Moscow sees as the Ukrainian leadership’s “overall deficiency” over the army, which he accused of trying to attack Russian energy sites “on a daily basis.”

He said “at the moment” held Russia for a commitment not to target Ukrainian energy facilities – despite several demands from Kyiv, including on Friday that Russia has attacked them.

Ukraine has accused Russia of violating his self -imposed order not to hit energy targets on several occasions.

Its Air Force reported Friday that Russia had fired 163 drones in an air -bearing accommodation, triggering fires against infrastructure and agricultural sites in the southern country.

On the battlefield, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed fresh progress and said its troops had seized a village in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region and re -entered a border settlement in its own Kursk region.

The latest territorial gains came after Putin called on his troops to push their advantage in labor and weapons.

“I said not so long ago, ‘We’ll get them.’ There are reasons to believe that we will end them too, ”Putin said.

In a sign of the high cost of the war, Kyiv said Friday that it had received 909 organs of Ukrainian soldiers killed in battle – the largest number yet.

Putin previously rejected a common American-Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional and full ceasefire and has been accused of Ukraine of pulling out conversations with Washington without the intention of stopping his offensive.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, has begun to target Europe and threw its leaders as a blockage of progress between Russia and the United States over a possible stop for the fighting.

Peskov on Friday slammed the EU’s refusal to consider removing sanctions against a Russian agricultural bank as a prerequisite for restoring a secure passage agreement in the Black Sea.

“If European countries do not want to go down this path, it means that they do not want to go down the Peace Road Unisont with the efforts shown in Moscow and Washington,” Peskov said.

Separately, Zelensky said on Friday that Kiev had formally received a new proposal for minerals from the United States, giving us access to Ukrainian natural resources in exchange for further military support.

Zelensky said his government needed to review the text in the draft agreement it received Friday with lawyers.

Ukraine once hoped to get security guarantees in exchange for access to mineral resources, but the initial draft included some protection, and Washington has refused to send any peacekeeping forces to Ukraine.