Reports suggest that Russia is gearing up to announce its victory in the war with Ukraine in a matter of days, following controversial remarks made by Donald Trump against Volodymyr Zelensky that are believed to have influenced the conflict’s direction.
Sources from Kyiv’s military intelligence agency, the GUR, anticipate that Vladimir Putin will portray this declaration not only as a win over Ukraine but also as a triumph over NATO, presenting it as a broader setback for Western forces.
The war, which started three years ago due to the Russian intervention in Ukraine, traces its roots back to events in 2014 when Putin seized control of Crimea and significant parts of eastern Ukraine, particularly in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
‘Russia is preparing to declare an alleged ‘victory’ in the war against Ukraine by the ’round date’ – 24 February 2025, the third anniversary of the beginning of the full-scale war,’ said the GUR agency today.
‘Moreover, these plans may also include a ‘Russian victory over NATO’, as Muscovite propaganda has long described the war against Ukraine as a war with the Alliance.’
The move – if it happens – comes amid intense moves to end the war led by Donald Trump and his administration, but with fears in Europe and Ukraine that a settlement will give the advantage to Russia, rewarding Putin for his military aggression.
The US President launched a scathing attack on his Ukrainian counterpart this week, blaming him for the war on his country despite Russia being the aggressor. Zelensky in turn accused the US President of falling for Russian fake news.
Trump hit back by labelling Zelensky ‘a dictator without elections’ – despite the Ukrainian leader winning more than 73 per cent of the vote in Ukraine’s 2019 presidential election and only pausing elections because of the war.
Siding with Trump, ally Elon Musk yesterday suggested the Ukrainian president runs a ‘fraud machine feeding off dead bodies of soldiers’.
Musk parroted Trump’s calls for the Ukrainian to call an election but claimed Zelensky had cancelled it because ‘he knows he would lose in a landslide’.
Writing on his X platform, he said: ‘In reality, he is despised by the people of Ukraine, which is why he has refused to hold an election. I challenge Zelensky to hold an election and refute this. He will not.’
Trump’s ally then added: ‘President Trump is right to ignore him and solve for peace independent of the disgusting, massive graft machine feeding off the dead bodies of Ukrainian soldiers.’
While Musk did not elaborate on what he meant by this, his comments appear to echo Trump’s accusation that Zelensky wanted to ‘keep the gravy train’ of foreign aid running with the war.
A major goal of the Kremlin’s strategy, according to Ukrainian intelligence, is to paint Putin as a reasonable statesman willing to negotiate, while branding any country that opposes Russian territorial gains as an ‘enemy of peace.’
The report also accuses Moscow of ramping up efforts to destabilise Ukraine internally, spread disinformation among its citizens, and undermine support from Western allies.
The GUR said: ‘The special services of the aggressor state of Russia have been instructed by the Kremlin leaders to make the most of the intensification of diplomatic efforts by the new US administration to end the Russian-Ukrainian war and the bilateral meeting of the US and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia on 18 February 2025 in subversive information and psychological campaigns.’
A key aim is to ‘cover the status of an aggressor and war criminal isolated by the civilised world with the cloak of a supposedly ready for peaceful settlement ‘constructive side of the conflict’.
Putin’s propaganda machine and intelligence services ‘on instructions from the Kremlin, are stepping up efforts to incite disbelief among Ukrainian society, destabilise the situation inside our country and discredit Ukraine among partner states that provide critical military assistance to our Security and Defence Forces in the fight against the occupiers’, said the GUR, headed by Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov.
‘The key narratives of hostile information attacks include “The West betrayed Ukraine”, “Neither Moscow nor Washington cares about the opinion of Europeans and Ukrainians”, “The US and Russia agreed on everything behind Ukraine’s back”, “The Ukrainian government is illegitimate”, “The Ukrainian army is losing at the front”, and “Corrupt officials are stealing billions of dollars of US aid from Ukraine”.’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently claimed that Donald Trump has been targeted by Russian disinformation campaigns as well.
Meanwhile, Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s intelligence agency, has predicted a ceasefire could happen this year but warned that it may be short-lived.
‘Despite the fact that the starting positions of the parties are diametrically opposed, that’s the only way it’s possible,’ he said.
‘At the same time, I think that this year we will come to a ceasefire regime.
‘How long it will be, how effective it will be, that is another question.
‘But the fact that it will happen, I think it will happen. There are most of the ingredients for it to happen.’
It comes after Trump said Ukraine should head to the ballot box and insisted that his Ukrainian counterpart had lost the support of his people, claiming: ‘He’s down at four per cent approval rating’.
The wild statistic was roundly dismissed after a poll conducted by the respected Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) earlier this month reported Zelensky’s approval rating stood at 57 per cent.
Zelensky retorted: ‘We have evidence that these figures are being discussed between America and Russia. That is, President Trump… unfortunately lives in this disinformation space.’
In Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the Trump administration held its first meeting with Russia on ending the war. But the talks excluded Kyiv.
Russia stood firm in its demand for a peace deal, including doubling down on the fact it would not tolerate the NATO alliance granting membership to Ukraine.
Trump also has shown his frustration with NATO, which the U.S. has membership in. He wants other allies to contribute more to NATO’s defense budget.
Mark Rutte, the head of NATO, told the BBC News that members of the alliance will have to spend ‘considerably more than 3 percent’ of the value of their economies on defense.
He said the process of coming up with a new target would conclude in April or May.
Russia started the war nearly three years ago when it invaded the Ukraine.
Moscow is also calling on Ukraine to hold elections, which would be difficult considering the infrastructure damage in the country and all the areas of it that Russia controls.
Zelensky has been just as critical of Trump, who he said was living in a ‘web of disinformation.
He also said the world’s most powerful leaders face the ‘choice’ of being with the Kremlin or for peace.
‘The future is not with Putin, but with peace. And it is a choice for everyone in the world – and for the powerful – to be with Putin or with peace. We should choose peace,’ he said.
European leaders are trying to find a way forward and have rushed to hold their own peace talks.
French President Emmanuel Macron will meet with President Trump at the White House on Monday, where he will tell the U.S. leader he cannot ‘be weak’ with Putin.
‘I’m going to tell him: ‘You can’t be weak with President Putin. That’s not who you are, it’s not your trademark, it’s not in your interest,’’ Macron said as he answered questions from the French public on social media.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will also meet with Trump. His sit down comes on Thursday.
