Putin ally suggests Ukrainians should be 'thankful' nation is being 'bombed to bits'

16 March 2025, 12:37 | Updated: 16 March 2025, 13:39

A former advisor of Russian President Vladimir Putin has told LBC ‘Ukrainians will be thankful after we liberate them'.

Speaking with LBC's Lewis Goodall, Sergei Markov, former advisor to President Putin and Russian representative to the Council of Europe, discussed the possibility of a peace deal.

Markov told Goodall that Ukrainians should be 'thankful' because they will be 'liberated' from a 'neo-Nazi' terrorist regime by Russia's bombs.

"Your government keeps this information secret. Your government is not giving information to your citizens about this tragic truth," he told Goodall.

Lewis Goodall's explosive interview with 'Putin ally' | LBC

When questioned about the killing of Ukrainians he said: "Nobody like bombs. Even those people who like Russia living in Ukraine, they don't like Russian rocket missiles and Russian bombs."

"I will never will be thankful for the killing," he said.

The former advisor argued that Ukraine was a part of Russia so citizens would be glad to be reunified.

LBC's Goodall asked Putin's ally about a possible ceasefire deal, to which Markov said: "Their plan from the beginning was just to make Ukrainian army more strong.

"That's why Russia concerned that probably this ceasefire again will be used by Western countries just to make Ukrainian army more strong and to start the war again."

Markov was concerned that Ukraine has invaded Kursk, killed Russian citizens and occupied that territory

Goodall quickly pointed out that Russia has killed a lot of Ukrainian citizens and invaded in the first place - which Markov denied.

The advisor said that "peace keepers should be from neutral countries" instead of the UK.

Markov continued to compare the 'neo-Nazi' occupation of Ukraine to Third Reich Germany.

He argued that Russia was 'liberating' Ukraine from occupation - like Britain and the allied forces did for Germany in World War Two.

"Can I invite you to join us in on Planet Reality?" Lewis Goodall said.

This comes as Sir Keir Starmer has said plans for Ukraine peacekeeping efforts set out by the 'coalition of the willing' are ready to move into an "operational phase" ahead of military chiefs meeting this week.

The British Prime Minister held the virtual summit on Saturday morning, with some 25 fellow leaders in attendance - a group dubbed the “coalition of the willing”.

Sir Keir also confirmed coalition military chiefs are set to meet in London on Thursday as nations move towards "just a lasting peace in Ukraine".

The Prime Minister warned that Putin's "yes but..." as a negotiation tactic was simply "not good enough".

"Stop and agree to a ceasefire now", he said.

"We won’t sit back and wait for Putin to act, instead we will keep pushing forward".

Sir Keir said that the coalition will put pressure on Russia and "weaken their war machine" if Putin rejects a peace deal.

This comes as a virtual summit, held by the Prime Minister on Saturday morning, saw world leaders including French President Emanuel Macron gather online as they unite behind Ukraine.

Late on Friday, Donald Trump insisted that peace talks are going "really well", despite claims that Putin is trying to delay the deal.