Russian President Vladimir Putin said the territories of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” will be “liberated in any case,” repeating long-standing Kremlin claims about the war in eastern Ukraine.

The remarks came in an interview with India Today that has not yet been released in full. The channel and Russian state-run agencies, including TASS and RIA Novosti, published excerpts on Thursday.

Putin said Russia would either seize the territories by force or see Ukrainian troops withdraw. “Everything is heading toward that,” he said, according to TASS.

He claimed residents in the occupied regions had “voted for independence” and accused Ukraine of refusing to pull back.

“People don’t want to live with you… withdraw your forces and there will be no fighting. No, they preferred to fight – well, now they’ve fought themselves into this situation,” he said, as quoted by RIA Novosti.

The full interview is expected to air at 9 p.m. local time.

Five-Hour Meeting With US Delegation

Putin also commented on his recent meeting with US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Stebe Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, calling the talks “necessary and useful.”

He said the meeting lasted five hours because both sides went through “every point” of Washington’s proposals to end the war.

Some ideas, he said, were unacceptable to Moscow. “We said, yes, this we can discuss, but we cannot agree to that,” Putin said, according to TASS.

“Reaching consensus between warring sides is not an easy task,” he added.

No Interest in Returning to G8

Asked whether Russia wants to rejoin the Group of Eight, Putin said, “No.” He noted he had already reduced his participation before Russia’s suspension.

“I don’t really understand why the G7 calls itself the G7. What’s so ‘great’ about it?” he said. Still, he called the group an “important platform” for global discussions.

Putin gave the interview ahead of his visit to India, which begins on December 4.

A proposal for Russia to take full control of the entire Donbas – including areas not currently held by Russian forces – is one element of a peace plan put forward by the Trump administration.

Ukraine has so far rejected any settlement based on the surrender of its territory, and Western officials have repeatedly dismissed Russia’s demands as unacceptable.