Putin says he thinks the Ukraine conflict is coming to an end
By Vladimir Soldatkin
MOSCOW, May 9 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he thought the Ukrainian conflict was nearing its end.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has triggered the most serious crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war.
“I think this issue is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters about the Ukrainian war.
Putin was speaking in the Kremlin after Russia held its smallest Victory Day parade in recent years. The May 9 national holiday celebrates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II and pays tribute to the 27 million Soviet citizens who lost their lives in the war.
But victory in Ukraine proved elusive for Russia.
During four years of the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, Russian forces have so far failed to capture the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, where Kiev’s forces have been pushed back to the line of fortress cities.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, left much of Ukraine in ruins and depleted Russia’s $3 trillion economy; Russia’s relations with Europe are worse than ever since the depths of the Cold War.
The Financial Times reported on Thursday that European Union leaders were preparing for potential talks.
When asked if he was willing to participate in talks with the Europeans, he said that his preferred person was former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
“Personally, for me, the former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Schroeder, is preferable,” Putin said.
The Kremlin said last week that it was European governments that would take the first step because it would be those who cut off contact with Moscow in 2022 following the start of the war in Ukraine.
Asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Putin said that the meeting would be possible only after a permanent peace agreement is signed.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
