Putin Says Ukraine Buffer Zone Nonnegotiable in Talks

Vladimir Putin said on Oct. 16, 2026, that Russia is establishing a security zone inside Ukraine along the border and does not plan to make it a subject for potential peace negotiations with Ukraine. He spoke in televised comments during a visit to a command post of Russia’s joint military task force while wearing a military uniform. Putin said Russian forces were tasked not only with expelling the enemy from Russian land but also with establishing a security zone in the adjacent territory, and that this task is being carried out successfully. He linked the move to Ukraine’s 2024-25 incursion into Kursk and said the goal is absolute security of Russia’s border regions for the future. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov put the planned zone at about 660 km (410 miles) and said Russia controls 70 percent of it. In remarks carried by Tass and other Russian media, Peskov said that Russia would have to create a security zone or buffer zone, and that it is being created systematically. The Kremlin announced the effort in July. Putin also said Russia still needed to capture more of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, according to the Kremlin and Reuters. Reports provide no independent confirmation of Peskov’s 70 percent control figure.