Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin gave a speech on Wednesday evening in China while attending Beijing’s military parade, doubling down on his maximalist goal for the invasion.

Putin commented on Ukraine in his speech, whose timing coincides with US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks that Putin has shown no progress, yet again, toward peace in Ukraine as another of Trump’s two-week deadlines expires.

Here are the key highlights of Putin’s comments on Ukraine.

On security guarantees

Putin once again rejected Western troop deployments as part of security guarantees, reiterating that Russia has consistently opposed Ukraine’s NATO membership.

Ironically, Putin did not reject that idea during the early years of his presidency, saying, “at the end of the day the decision is to be taken by NATO and Ukraine. It is a matter for those two partners,” according to a Kremlin transcript published on May 17, 2002.

According to Russian state media Ria Novosti, Putin also claimed on Wednesday, Sept. 3, that Ukraine’s security cannot be ensured at the expense of Russia’s security, a reference to the guarantees in discussion that involve protection for Kyiv similar to NATO’s Article 5 without committing the country to the bloc.

Previously, the Kremlin reportedly told Trump that it is not opposed to security guarantees for Kyiv, but later rejected every proposal that would form part of the guarantees, instead proposing that Moscow-ally Beijing send troops to post-war Ukraine in place of Western troops.

Putin also claimed on Wednesday that Moscow never proposed exchanging territories for Kyiv’s security guarantees, a form of potential settlement discussed during the recent US-Russia talks.

On territories

Putin doubled down on the Kremlin’s claim on the occupied Ukrainian territories.

He reiterated that the occupied territories belong to Russia – in late 2022, Moscow staged illegal referendums in four partially occupied Ukrainian regions and later incorporated them as Russian territory.

Kyiv Post calculated the percentage of each region held by Russia as of mid-August in an earlier analysis.

On Wednesday, Putin once again used the referendum to justify the occupation, claiming the opinion of those who decided to live as part of Russia must be respected – despite most locals supporting Kyiv in those regions either fled to Ukrainian-controlled territories or were imprisoned.

Moscow is rumored to have proposed withdrawing from Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Sumy regions in exchange for gaining control of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions (the latter of which Moscow has failed to capture despite mounting losses), while freezing the lines in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Under the proposal, Moscow would give up a tiny portion of land occupied in exchange for territories it has failed to capture. Kyiv reportedly said no to the deal.

Putin also argued that a referendum in Ukraine should be held by lifting martial law to resolve the so-called territorial issues, tacitly bypassing the idea that Ukraine’s Constitution does not allow the government to give up land.

On meeting Zelensky

Putin once again said he is not opposed to meeting Zelensky but put out conditions considered impossible for Kyiv.

On Wednesday, he said Zelensky can come to Moscow for the talks.

Putin also called Zelensky “the acting head of the administration,” refusing to acknowledge the latter’s legitimacy.

Securing a Zelensky-Putin meeting was the key goal for the Trump administration after the Alaska summit between Trump and Putin, a prospect that diminished in the weeks following the summit, with Moscow rejecting the talks taking place in third countries.

On peace talks

Putin claimed all of Moscow’s efforts to end the invasion have been derailed and accused the West of doing so.

In addition, he also said Kyiv rejected Moscow’s 2022 proposal to end the invasion and withdraw from southeastern Ukraine.

He said that if the war cannot be settled peacefully, Moscow is forced to resort to military means.

For the record, Moscow invaded Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Putin also praised the Trump administration’s “sincere desire to find solution to Ukraine conflict,” as per Ria Novosti, and particularly Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, whom Putin said was “expressing Trump’s position in his contacts with Russian representatives,” according to Ria Novosti.