Putin has sent a chilling warning that Russia is prepared to use “armed force” if Ukraine does not surrender to his territorial demands just hours before Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky engage in crunch peace talks. The Ukraine President is to meet his US counterpart today about security guarantees at Mar-a-Lago in Florida to seek a resolution to the conflict. 

Zelensky is expected to discuss territorial disputes over Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia during talks with President Trump and go through specific points of a 20-point peace plan. But Putin has now threatened that the bloodshed will continue if Ukraine fails to meet Moscow’s territorial demands.

The Russian leader said: “If the Kyiv authorities do not want to end the matter peacefully, we will resolve all the tasks facing us in the course of the special military operation using armed force.”