Putin warns that Russia will seek to extend its gains in Ukraine if peace talks fail

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that Moscow will seek to extend its gains in Ukraine if Kyiv and its Western allies reject the Kremlin's demands in peace talks.

U.S. President Donald Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end nearly four years of fighting following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but Washington’s efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

Speaking at an annual meeting with top military officers, Putin said Moscow would prefer to achieve its goals and “eliminate the root causes of the conflict” by diplomatic means, but he added that “if the opposing side and its foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive dialogue, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands by military means.”

Ukraine and its Western allies regards Russia's actions as a violation of its sovereignty and an unprovoked act of aggression.

Putin claimed that “the Russian army has seized and is firmly holding strategic initiative all along the front line” and warned that Moscow will move to expand a “buffer security zone” alongside the Russian border.

“Our troops are different now, they are battle-hardened and there is no other such army in the world now,” he said.

Putin praised Russia's growing military might and particularly noted the modernization of its atomic arsenal, including the new nuclear-capable intermediate range Oreshnik ballistic missile that he said will officially enter combat duty this month. Russia first tested a conventionally armed version of the Oreshnik to strike a Ukrainian factory in November 2024, and Putin has boasted that it's impossible to intercept.

Putin's tough statements follow several rounds of talks this week between Ukrainian. American and European officials on a U.S.-drafted peace plan. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after meeting with U.S. envoys in Berlin that the document could be finalized within days, after which U.S. envoys will present it to the Kremlin.

Putin wants all the areas in four key regions captured by his forces, as well as Crimea, which was illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory. He also has demanded that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow's forces have not captured yet.

The Kremlin also insists that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO and warns it won’t accept the deployment of any troops from NATO members and will view them as “legitimate target."

Zelenskyy has expressed readiness to drop Ukraine’s bid to join NATO if the U.S. and other Western nations give Kyiv security guarantees similar to those offered to NATO members. But Ukraine’s preference remains NATO membership as the best security guarantee to prevent further Russian aggression.

At the same time, Zelenskyy has rejected Moscow’s demands that it pull back its troops from other areas that Russia has not been able to take by force.

The Ukrainian leader described the draft peace plan discussed with the U.S. during talks in Berlin on Monday as “not perfect” but “very workable,” noting that Kyiv and its allies were very close to a deal on "strong security guarantees.” But he also emphasized that the key issue of control over territory remain unresolved and rejected the U.S. push for Ukraine to cede control over the eastern Donetsk region.

Reporting to Putin at Wednesday's military meeting, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov spelled out plans for further advances, saying the latest Russian advances in Donetsk have set the stage for a quick push into the Ukrainian-controlled part of the region.

Belousov also declared that Russian troops were preparing to drive Ukrainian forces from parts of the Zaporizhzhia region that Moscow also annexed in 2022 but never fully captured, as well as extend gains in neighboring Dnipropetrovsk.

“The key task for the next year is to preserve and accelerate the tempo of the offensive,” he said.

Belousov spelled out plans for expanding Russian military capabilities, focusing on drones, jamming equipment and air defense assets.

As Russia continues its grinding advances in many sectors of the front, it also pummeled Ukraine with daily missile and drone strikes.

At least 26 people were injured by Russian glide bombs in Zaporizhzhia and its vicinity, according to regional administration head Ivan Fedorov. The attack damaged several residential buildings, as well as infrastructure and an educational facility.

At least 69 long-range drones were launched by Russia overnight, the Ukrainian air force said. Air defenses intercepted or jammed 29 drones in the morning, with the assault continuing during the day.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 94 Ukrainian drones overnight.

In Russia's southern Krasnodar region, drones injured two people and damaged several private houses, according to regional emergency officials. In the southwestern Voronezh region, Gov. Alexander Gusev said drone fragments damaged a power line serving an infrastructure facility, causing a blaze that was quickly extinguished.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo, taken Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025 and provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, soldiers ride a quad bike near Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP)

Russian Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov, right, reports to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the annual board meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry and award soldiers in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Russian Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov attend the annual board meeting of the country's Defense Ministry and awards soldiers in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

BADALONA, Spain (AP) — Police in northeastern Spain carried out eviction orders Wednesday to clear an abandoned school building where around 400 mostly undocumented migrants were living in a squat north of Barcelona.

Knowing that the eviction in the middle of winter was coming, most of the occupants had left to try to find other shelter before police in riot gear from Catalonia's regional police entered the school’s premises early in the morning under court orders. Judicial authorities had ruled the building was unsafe.

While the eviction was completed without violence, there were moments of tension when people who were losing their homes had to walk past armored officers.

But officers of Spain's National Police detained 18 people on suspicions they were residing in the country without authorization, lawyer Marta Llonch told The Associated Press.

The squat was located in Badalona, a working class city that borders Barcelona. Many sub-Saharan migrants, mostly from Senegal and Gambia, had moved into the empty school building since it was left abandoned in 2023.

“Putting 400 people onto the street in winter just before Christmas, you have to have a hard heart to do that,” said Younous Drame, a 50-year-old man from Senegal who was among those forced to leave.

The judicial order obliged the Badalona town hall to provide the evicted people with access to social services, but it did not oblige local authorities to find housing for all the squatters.

Llonch, who represents the squatters, said that many people would surely end up without shelter in the cold.

“Many people are going to sleep on the street tonight,” Llonch told The Associated Press. “Just because you evict these people it doesn’t mean they disappear. If you don’t give them an alternative place to live they will now be on the street, which will be a problem for them and the city.”

Many of the squatters lived from selling scrap metal collected from the streets. Others had residency and work permits but were forced to live there because they couldn't afford housing during a cost-of-living crunch that is making it difficult even for working Spaniards to buy or rent homes. That housing crisis has led to widespread social angst and public protests.

On leaving the school, people loaded their belongings onto carts, some used as trailers led by bicycles, to haul them away.

The Badalona town hall will offer temporary housing to some 30 people, according to El País newspaper. Another 60 people are being attended to by Catalonia’s regional social services, which could end up offering them temporary housing as well, regional officials told the AP.

The conservative mayor of Badalona, Xavier García Albiol, asked the court to evict the people from the old public school.

His Badalona town hall had argued that the squat was a public safety hazard. In 2020, an old factory occupied by around a hundred migrants in Badalona caught fire and four people were killed in the blaze.

After the eviction was complete, García Albiol visited the school site and declared that “what is unacceptable in this country is that Spain’s government lets absolutely everyone in.”

Like other southern European countries, Spain has for more than a decade seen a steady influx of migrants who risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean or Atlantic in small boats.

While many developed countries have taken a hard-line position against migration, Spain's left-wing government has said that legal migration has helped its economy grow.

A migrant carries his belongings as police began carrying out eviction orders at an abandoned school building where hundreds of mostly undocumented migrants had been living, in Badalona, near Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Migrants from Romania and Senegal sit in a makeshift bar inside an abandoned school in Badalona, near Barcelona, Spain, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, where hundreds of migrants have been occupying the building. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A migrant argues with a riot police officer as police begin carrying out eviction orders at an abandoned school building where hundreds of mostly undocumented migrants had been living, in Badalona, near Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A migrant's belongings are packed before he leaves as police in the background prepares to carry out eviction orders at an abandoned school building where hundreds of mostly undocumented migrants had been living, in Badalona, near Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Migrants confront police as they begin carrying out eviction orders at an abandoned school building where hundreds of mostly undocumented migrants had been living, in Badalona, near Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Yankuba Touray, from Gambia, makes coffee in a makeshift kitchen inside an abandoned school in Badalona, near Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, where hundreds of migrants have been occupying the building. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Yankuba Touray, from Gambia, eats his breakfast inside an abandoned school in Badalona, near Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, where hundreds of migrants have been occupying the building.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Migrants from Romania and Senegal sit in a makeshift bar inside an abandoned school in Badalona, near Barcelona, Spain, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, where hundreds of migrants have been occupying the building. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Yankuba Touray, from Gambia, stands inside an abandoned school in Badalona, near Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, where hundreds of migrants have been occupying the building.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)