Kremlin says Russia creating ‘buffer zone’ along Ukraine border

The Kremlin said Sunday that Russia is creating what it describes as a “buffer zone” on its border with Ukraine.

“Given the aggressive nature of the Kyiv regime, in order to ensure the safety of our citizens, we will have to create a security zone, or buffer zone,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin.

“It is being created, and it is being created systematically,” Peskov said in remarks published by Russian media outlets, including state news agency Tass, arguing that “significant results” had been achieved in terms of Russian troop advances.

Peskov said no one should doubt that the “buffer zone” would be created “to the extent necessary to ensure our security.”

In this context, he referred to Russia’s claimed capture of the front-line industrial city of Kostiantynivka in the eastern Donetsk region, and accused Ukraine of striking facilities inside Russia that he said were not linked to the country’s military-industrial complex.

Late Friday, Russia claimed control of Kostiantynivka, a development President Vladimir Putin described during a meeting with military commanders as the “first, but very important, stage in the capture of the already important Sloviansk-Kramatorsk defensive hub of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

During the same meeting at an auxiliary command post, Putin said the creation of a “security zone” in border areas of Ukraine’s Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions was “proceeding as planned.”

Putin announced in May last year that he had ordered the creation of a “security buffer zone” along the Russia-Ukraine border after Moscow said it had pushed Ukrainian troops out of Russia’s Kursk region, where Kyiv launched an incursion in August 2024.

Commenting on Russia’s claim about the capture of Kostiantynivka, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied Moscow’s assertion and accused Putin of choosing “to lie to the world” about the situation on the front line.

‘Real war’

Peskov also spoke about contacts between Russia and the US, saying Moscow maintains communication with Washington through existing channels.

“They are busy now. When they have more free time, they will always be welcome in Moscow,” Peskov said, referring to US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

Peskov said Russia remains open to peace talks aimed at ending the Ukraine war, adding that Moscow would prefer to achieve its goals through diplomatic means.

“We hope that the European Union will not succeed in completely thwarting these prospects,” he said, expressing hope for “continued goodwill efforts from American mediators.”

He also said the “special military operation,” Moscow’s term for the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, is gradually turning into a “real war” due to Western support for Ukraine.