Putin Says Ukraine War ‘Coming to an End’ as He Signals Openness to Talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he believes the war in Ukraine is “coming to an end,” remarks made just hours after he vowed victory during Moscow’s most subdued Victory Day parade in recent years.

“I think that the matter is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Europe’s deadliest war since World War Two. He also said he was open to negotiating new security arrangements for Europe and named former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as his preferred negotiating partner.

Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine triggered the most serious crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when fears of nuclear war gripped the world.

The Kremlin said peace talks brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had been paused. Putin has repeatedly vowed to continue fighting until Russia achieves all its objectives in what Moscow calls the “special military operation.”

Speaking at the Kremlin after outlining his view of the war’s origins, Putin blamed “globalist” Western leaders, saying they had promised NATO would not expand eastward after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall but later sought to pull Ukraine into the European Union’s sphere of influence. His comments came hours after the May 9 Victory Day parade, which commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two and honours the 27 million Soviet citizens who died in the conflict.

Instead of the usual display of intercontinental ballistic missiles, tanks and missile systems crossing Red Square, Russia showed footage of military hardware in action on giant screens opposite the Kremlin walls. Russian troops have now fought in Ukraine for more than four years — longer than Soviet forces fought in what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45.

Talks With Europe

European Council President Antonio Costa said last week there was “potential” for the European Union to negotiate with Russia and discuss Europe’s future security architecture. Asked whether he was willing to engage with European leaders, Putin said he preferred Schroeder.

“For me personally, the former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Schroeder, is preferable,” Putin said.

European leaders have insisted Russia must be defeated in Ukraine and have portrayed Putin as a war criminal and autocrat who could one day threaten a NATO member if Russia succeeds in Ukraine. Moscow has dismissed such claims as nonsense. Putin, who ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022, has accused European powers of fuelling the conflict by supplying Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars in aid, weapons and intelligence.

Asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Putin said a meeting would only be possible once a lasting peace agreement had been reached.