Vladimir Putin has vowed Russia will take the territories it set out to in Ukraine by force if Zelensky doesn’t withdraw.

Russia currently holds nearly 85% of the eastern Donbas region but Kyiv has so far refused to back down.

But the Russian leader warned: ‘All this boils down to one thing: Either we take back these territories by force, or eventually Ukrainian troops withdraw.’

US President Donald Trump had been pushing to see an end to the fighting since Russia launched the full-scale invasion nearly four years ago.

But so far no agreement has been reached, especially over whether Ukraine must give up land to Russia and how it can be kept safe from any future aggression.

The Russian leader said on Thursday the initial US 28-point peace proposal was trimmed to 27 points and split into four packages during tense five hour negotiations this week.

‘To say now what exactly doesn’t suit us or where we could possibly agree seems premature, since it might disrupt the very mode of operation that President Trump is trying to establish,’ Putin said.

Putin praised Trump’s peace efforts, noting that ‘achieving consensus among conflicting parties is no easy task.’

European leaders, left on the sidelines by Washington as US officials engage directly with Moscow and Kyiv, have accused Putin of feigning interest in Trump’s peace drive.

In his evening address, Zelensky said Putin clearly wanted to drag out the war.

‘Our task now is to obtain full information about what was said in Russia and what other pretexts Putin has come up with to drag out the war and to pressure Ukraine – to pressure us, our independence.’

‘Of course we will work as constructively as possible with all our partners to ensure that peace is achieved – and that it is, after all, a dignified peace.”

According to him, true, just peace is only possible if Ukraine has real security.

‘Only a dignified peace provides real security, and we fully understand that this requires – and will continue to require – the support of our partners,’ Zelensky stressed.

He said that Ukraine is actively working through all elements of future security guarantees, and new meetings on these issues will take place next week.

He spoke as Russian barrages of civilian areas of Ukraine continued overnight into Thursday.

A missile struck Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday night, wounding six people, including a 3-year-old girl.

The attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown damaged more than 40 residential buildings, a school and domestic gas pipes.

A 6-year-old girl died in the southern city of Kherson after Russian artillery shelling wounded her the previous day, regional military administration chief Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.