Putin: 'I Think That the Matter Is Coming to an End'

Russian President Vladimir Putin now says he thinks the war in Ukraine is "coming to an end"—even as he vows to keep fighting until Moscow's objectives are met. Speaking in the Kremlin after a scaled-back Victory Day parade in Red Square, Putin blamed Western "globalist" leaders for the conflict and said he's open to new European security talks, naming former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as his preferred counterpart, reports Reuters. "I think that the matter is coming to an end," he told reporters. Putin also repeated that he would only meet Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in a third country once all terms of a potential deal were agreed, framing such a summit as a rubber stamp, not a negotiation.

Putin's comments come more than four years into a war that has killed hundreds of thousands, devastated large areas of Ukraine, and pushed relations between Russia and Europe to a post–Cold War low. A US-backed ceasefire from Saturday to Monday, supported by both Moscow and Kyiv, has held so far, with President Trump calling the conflict "the worst thing since World War Two in terms of life" and urging it be extended. However, the Kremlin said it has no plans to do that, notes the Guardian. In Kyiv, Zelensky marked Europe Day, calling Ukraine an "inseparable" part of the EU and casting Western aid as a deliberate choice to side with "the brave and the strong." (Putin is reportedly concerned about his own safety.)