Putin Prompts Fears Of ‘The Worst To Come' In Ukraine

Russian president insists war is making planned progress as he says he will ‘go all the way’

- Peter Beaumont Lviv Kim Willsher Paris Jon Henley

Vladimir Putin has told Emmanuel Macron that Kyiv’s “refusal to accept Russia’s conditions” means he will continue to pursue his war in Ukraine, the Élysée Palace has said, adding: “We expect the worst is yet to come.”

As the number of refugees fleeing the conflict passed a million and Russian forces, backed by heavy shelling, advanced on cities and ports in the south and east, Russia’s president said in a 90-minute call to his French counterpart he was “prepared to go all the way”, the French official said.

Putin said Moscow aimed to take “full control” of Ukraine by diplomatic or military means and repeated that his objective was its “neutralisation, demilitarisation and denazification”, the official said Macron responded that Putin was making a “major mistake” that would cost Russia dearly over the long term. “There was nothing in what President Putin said to reassure us,” the official said, adding that Macron had told him he was “lying to himself”.

The Russian leader said that the invasion – which Russia calls a “special military operation” – was going according to plan, even though his troops appear to have made slower progress than many experts predicted. He praised Russia’s soldiers as heroes, adding: “All the tasks that have been set are being successfully resolved.”

Putin intends to go ‘all the way’, French say, and worst is to come