Vladimir Putin has said he believes the war in Ukraine is coming to an end, just hours after vowing to defeat Ukraine during Moscow’s most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years. This comes even as two of his top aides downplayed the idea of a quick resolution to the conflict.
“I think the matter is coming to an end,” Putin said, referring to Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. He added that he would be open to negotiating new security arrangements for Europe, and that his preferred partner for those talks would be former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder—a choice unlikely to be accepted by Ukraine or the EU.
However, two senior Kremlin officials dismissed any notion of a swift end to the war. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said this weekend that reaching a peace agreement on Ukraine would take a long time.
“It’s clear that the American side is in a hurry, but the issue of a Ukrainian settlement is too complex. Reaching a peace agreement is a very long road with many complicated details,” Peskov said.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said negotiations would “probably resume,” but it was unclear when. On Thursday, Ushakov told Russian media that Moscow saw no basis for a new round of three-way talks with Ukraine and the US until Ukrainian forces withdrew from the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine—a condition Kyiv has rejected.
This week, European Council President António Costa said he believed there was potential for the EU to negotiate with Russia and discuss the future of Europe’s security architecture.
Ukrainian officials said on Sunday that there had been Russian drone strikes and nearly 150 battlefield clashes over the past 24 hours, despite a US-brokered three-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow announced on the eve of the Moscow parade. Russia’s defense ministry said on Sunday that it had shot down 57 Ukrainian drones.
On Saturday, Moscow was under heavy security, with internet services shut down across the city, as Ukraine continued to unsettle Russia with long-range drone and missile strikes—forcing parade organizers to strip the event of its usual spectacle.
The usual display of missiles and armored vehicles, a staple of the parade since Putin introduced military hardware in 2017, was completely absent. The Kremlin took steps to protect the parade—which celebrated the allies’ victory over Nazi Germany in World War II—after recent long-range Ukrainian drone strikes on various targets.
In Ukraine, one person was killed and three were wounded in Russian strikes on the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, according to its governor, Ivan Fedorov, on Sunday morning.
The governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said eight people, including two children, were wounded in drone attacks on the regional capital and nearby settlements.
Seven people, including a child, have been wounded in the southern Kherson region by Russian drone and artillery strikes since early Saturday, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
Oleksandr Hanzha, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said a child was wounded and infrastructure damaged in Russian attacks on the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region.
With no victory in sight and no timeline for the war to end, the mood in Russia is turning sour. On the battlefield, the situation is similarly grinding. Russian troops are nearly at a standstill, with neither side appearing close to a breakthrough.
Advances have slowed in recent months, with both armies showing signs of exhaustion and suffering heavy casualties while continuing to strike each other’s energy infrastructure.
Putin, who has led Russia as president or prime minister since the last day of 1999, faces growing anxiety in Moscow about the war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, left large parts of Ukraine in ruins, and drained Russia’s economy.Relations with Europe are worse than at any point since the depths of the Cold War. Russian forces have so far been unable to take the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, where Kyiv’s troops have been pushed back to a line of fortified cities. Russian advances have slowed this year, though Moscow still controls just under one-fifth of Ukrainian territory.
Russia will always be victorious, Putin said at a scaled-back Victory Day parade.
Read more: On Saturday, Putin criticized Western support for Kyiv. “They [the West] started escalating the confrontation with Russia, which continues to this day,” he said. “I think it [the war] is heading toward an end, but it’s still a serious matter. They spent months waiting for Russia to suffer a crushing defeat and for its statehood to collapse. That didn’t work out. Then they got stuck in that mindset and now they can’t get out of it.”
Putin said he was ready to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a third country once all conditions for a potential peace agreement were settled—sticking to his usual stance on meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart. “This should be the final step, not the negotiations themselves,” he said.
When asked if he was willing to talk with European leaders, Putin replied: “For me personally, the former chancellor of Germany, Mr. Schröder, is preferable.”
Many in Ukraine and Europe will be skeptical about involving Schröder, given his close friendship with Putin and his history of ties to Russian business and projects, like the Nord Stream gas pipelines. In 2022, after the war broke out, Zelenskyy called Schröder “disgusting” for meeting with Putin and speaking in the Russian leader’s favor.
Zelenskyy observed Saturday as Europe Day, which is celebrated as a founding day of the EU. He said Ukraine is an “inseparable part of the European family.”
With Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs based on Putin suggesting the war in Ukraine is ending while his aides caution that peace is still far off
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 Did Putin actually say the war is ending
Yes recently he has made statements suggesting that Russia is close to achieving its goals and that the conflict could wind down However he hasnt given a specific date or defined what ending looks like
2 So is the war going to stop soon
Probably not While Putin says its ending his own aides and officials are publicly stating that there is a long road ahead This means serious negotiations and a full ceasefire are not expected immediately
3 Why would Putin say its ending if it isnt
This is a common tactic Saying the war is ending can be a way to reassure the Russian public signal to the West that Russia is open to talks or put pressure on Ukraine to accept Russian terms Its often seen as a negotiating position not a factual statement
4 What does long road to peace mean
It means that even if both sides agreed to stop fighting today there are huge disagreements about land security and Ukraines future that would take months or years to resolve It also means the fighting is likely to continue for the foreseeable future
AdvancedLevel Questions
5 What are the main obstacles to peace right now
The biggest obstacles are
Territory Russia controls parts of eastern and southern Ukraine Ukraine wants all its land back Russia wants to keep what it has taken
Security Guarantees Ukraine demands firm security promises to prevent future attacks Russia refuses to accept this
Sanctions The West wants Russia to fully withdraw before lifting sanctions Russia wants sanctions lifted first
6 Why are Putin and his aides giving mixed signals
This is a classic good cop bad cop or strategic ambiguity Putin sends a hopeful message to calm domestic unrest and invite diplomacy His aides then walk it back to manage expectations and signal to the West that Russia is not desperate for a deal It keeps everyone guessing
7 Could this be a trap to get Ukraine to let its guard down
Yes that is a real concern If Ukraine believes a ceasefire is near it might slow down its military operations or reduce
