Vladimir
Putin suggests Ukraine war is ‘coming to an end’
Russian
president damns western support that has allowed Ukraine to hold out and asks
for talks with Gerhard Schröder in remarks after diminished Victory Day parade
Guardian
staff and agencies
Sun 10
May 2026 01.52 BST
Vladimir
Putin has said he thinks the Ukraine war is winding down – remarks that came a
few hours after he had vowed to defeat Ukraine at Moscow’s most scaled-back
Victory Day parade in years.
“I think
that the matter is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters of the
Russia-Ukraine war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since the second world war. He
said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, and
that his preferred negotiating partner would be Germany’s former chancellor
Gerhard Schröder.
Putin,
who has ruled Russia as president or prime minister since the last day of 1999,
faces a wave of anxiety in Moscow about the war in Ukraine, which has killed
hundreds of thousands of people, left swathes of Ukraine in ruins, and drained
Russia’s economy. Russia’s relations with Europe are worse than at any time
since the depths of the cold war.
Russian
forces have so far been unable to take the whole of the Donbas region of
eastern Ukraine where Kyiv’s forces have been pushed back to a line of fortress
cities. Russian advances have slowed this year, though Moscow controls just
under one-fifth of Ukrainian territory.
Speaking
on Saturday, Putin slammed western support for Kyiv, as the first day of a
Russia-Ukraine ceasefire was marked by mutual accusations of violations.
“They
[the west] started ratcheting up the confrontation with Russia, which continues
to this day.
“I think
it [the war] is heading to an end but it’s still a serious matter.
“They
spent months waiting for Russia to suffer a crushing defeat, for its statehood
to collapse. It didn’t work out.
“And then
they got stuck in that groove and now they can’t get out of it.”
Putin
added that he was ready to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a third country only
once all conditions for a potential peace agreement were settled – holding to
his usual position on a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart.
“This
should be the final point, not the negotiations themselves,” he said.
Asked if
he was willing to engage in talks with the Europeans, Putin said: “For me
personally, the former chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr
Schröder, is preferable.”
Many in
Ukraine and Europe will be sceptical of involving Schröder given his background
as a close friend of Putin and history of ties to Russian business and
projects, such as the Nord Stream gas pipelines. In 2022, after the war broke
out, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, called Schröder “disgusting” for
meeting with Putin and speaking in the Russian ruler’s favour.
Russia,
Ukraine and Donald Trump on Friday announced that a three-day ceasefire between
both sides would come into effect from Saturday. Moscow and Kyiv traded
accusations of violations amid continued drone activity and civilian casualties
on both sides.
The
Kremlin said there were no plans to prolong the truce. The warring sides also
agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners each during the truce. Putin said on Saturday
that Russia had not yet received any proposals from Ukraine on the exchange.
The
Victory Day parade was vastly smaller compared to previous years, with no
military hardware on display for the first time in nearly two decades and only
a handful of foreign dignitaries in attendance – most of them leaders of
Russia’s close allies.
In the
week prior there had been clear notes of desperation from the Russian side that
the parade not be disturbed by Ukrainian attacks. Moscow threatened to bomb the
centre of Kyiv including foreign embassies, warning overseas missions to
evacuate their staff.
For his
part, Zelenskyy – after earlier issuing a “decree” allowing the Moscow parade
to go ahead – observed Saturday as Europe Day, which is celebrated as a
foundational day of the EU. He said Ukraine was an “inseparable part of the
European family”.
“From the
first days of the full-scale war until today, Europe has stood with Ukraine,”
Zelenskyy said. “And this is not charity – it is a choice made by Europeans: to
stand on the same side as the brave and the strong.”
Only the
leaders of Belarus, Malaysia, Laos, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan were listed as
attending Putin’s parade, in contrast to high-profile visitors including
China’s Xi Jinping during last year’s event.
Now in
its fifth year, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and
spiralled into Europe’s deadliest since the second world war.
The
European Council president, António Costa, said last week that he believed
there was “potential” for the EU to negotiate with Russia, and to discuss the
future of the security architecture of Europe.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário