An aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin says Ukraine may cease to exist "altogether" in 2025.
"It can't be ruled out that Ukraine will cease to exist at all in the coming year," the aide, Nikolai Patrushev, who headed Russia's Security Council for 16 years before he was replaced in 2024 by former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, said in an interview with the pro-Kremlin publication Komsomolskaya Pravda, reports The Moscow Times Tuesday.
He also claimed that the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv collapsed "long before" the 2022 invasion because of its "violent enforcement of neo-Nazi ideology and rampant Russophobia," which he said is "destroying once prosperous cities in Ukraine, including Kharkiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Dnepropetrovsk."
Patrushev's comments came in response to a question about whether he believes there could be territorial concessions during peace talks once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Trump has pledged to end the war quickly, and the United States has been Ukraine's largest military backer under outgoing President Joe Biden.
The matter of conceding territories is "not even up for discussion," Patrushev said. "The territories that were once governed from Kyiv became part of Russia based on the expression of the will of citizens in accordance with international law, the laws of the Russian Federation, and the legislation of these regions."
Patrushev also predicted that the former Soviet republic of Moldova, which borders Ukraine and Romania, could face dissolution because it is pursuing membership in the European Union, which Russia opposes.
"I won’t rule out that Chisinau’s aggressive anti-Russian policy will result in Moldova either becoming part of another state or ceasing to exist entirely," he said.
Meanwhile, Patrushev said the world is watching for changes as Trump prepares to take office.
"A significant part of the world still looks to America" but "The American elite itself is divided and does not have a unified idea of how exactly to build policy both in the world and within the country," said Patrushev.
Trump has also said he plans to return the U.S. "to a pragmatic policy" that will benefit the United States and its citizens, but "how this will relate to the interests of other countries and peoples is still unclear," he said.
The world, meanwhile, is undergoing "tectonic shifts" that were last seen after the collapse of the Soviet Union, said Patrushev.
"I mean not only the geopolitical situation, but also the state of affairs in the economy, the technological sphere, and social and cultural processes," he said.
Biden's presidency, meanwhile, showed that White House priorities and those of U.S. citizens "differed significantly," said Patrushev.
"Therefore, ordinary Americans will accept any ideas that can contribute to their well-being," he said. "They will welcome measures to support family values, improve the health care situation, fight fires, and illegal immigration … time will tell whether Trump will be able to fully realize his intentions."
The "notorious deep state" may not allow Trump to develop his agenda, he added, explaining that the "experience of the election campaign and the assassination attempt on him showed that one must be prepared for the most unthinkable scenarios."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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