Putin: I think the war between Russia and Ukraine is coming to an end

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he believes the war in Ukraine is nearing an end, hours after promising victory in Ukraine at the most modest Victory Parade in Moscow in recent years.

"I think the matter is coming to an end," Putin told reporters about the Russia-Ukraine war, the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II. He also said he would be ready to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, and that his preferred negotiating partner would be former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Reuters reports.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 caused the most serious crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when many feared that the world was on the brink of nuclear war.

The Kremlin said peace talks, brokered by the administration of US President Donald Trump, had been suspended. Putin has repeatedly vowed to continue fighting until all of Russia's war goals are achieved in what Moscow calls a "special military operation."

Putin spoke at the Kremlin after outlining his view of the causes of the war. He blamed "globalist" Western leaders, saying they promised that NATO would not expand eastward after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but then tried to pull Ukraine into the European Union's orbit.

His statement came just hours after a parade marking the May 9 national holiday, which marks the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. The annual event honors the 27 million Soviet citizens who died in that war.

Instead of the usual intercontinental ballistic missiles, tanks and missile systems moving across the cobblestones of Red Square, Russia displayed footage of its military hardware in action on large screens against the Kremlin walls.

Russian troops have been fighting in Ukraine for more than four years. That's longer than Soviet forces fought in World War II, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War from 1941 to 1945.

War in Europe

Putin, who has ruled Russia as president or prime minister since the last day of 1999, faces a wave of concern in Moscow over the war in Ukraine, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, left large parts of Ukraine in ruins and drained Russia's $3 trillion economy. Relations between Russia and Europe are worse than at any time since the deepest days of the Cold War.

Russian forces have so far failed to capture all of Donbas, a region in eastern Ukraine where Kiev forces have been pushed back to a line of fortified towns. Russian advances have slowed this year, even though Moscow controls slightly less than a fifth of Ukrainian territory, Reuters reminds.

After Russia and Ukraine accused each other of violating unilateral ceasefires they had declared in previous days, US President Donald Trump announced a three-day ceasefire from Saturday to Monday, backed by the Kremlin and Kiev. The two sides also agreed to exchange 1.000 prisoners.

"I would like to see it stop. Russia and Ukraine - it's the worst thing since World War II in terms of human lives. Twenty-five thousand young soldiers every month. It's crazy," Trump told reporters in Washington.

He added that he would "like to see a major extension" of the ceasefire. There were no reports of ceasefire violations from either Moscow or Kiev.

Conversations with Schroeder?

European Council President Antonio Costa said last week that he believes there is "potential" for the EU to negotiate with Russia and discuss the future of Europe's security architecture.

Asked if he was ready to engage in talks with the Europeans, Putin said that Schröder was a desirable figure for him.

"For me personally, the former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Schroeder, is desirable," Putin said.

European leaders have said Russia must be defeated in Ukraine and portrayed Putin as a war criminal and autocrat who they say could one day attack a NATO member if he is allowed to win the war. Russia dismisses such claims as nonsense.

Putin, who ordered the deployment of troops to Ukraine in February 2022, portrays European powers as warmongers for supporting Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars in aid, weapons and intelligence.

Asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Putin said that a meeting is only possible once a lasting peace agreement is agreed.