Putin suggests Russia’s war on Ukraine ‘coming to an end’
Al Jazeera • • world
Key Points:
- Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated that the war in Ukraine might be "coming to an end" and expressed willingness to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a third country if a final peace deal is reached.
- The comments followed a scaled-back Victory Day parade in Moscow and coincided with a three-day ceasefire and a prisoner exchange agreement between Russia and Ukraine, raising cautious hopes for diplomatic progress.
- Putin blamed Western "globalist elites" for the conflict, accusing them of breaking promises not to expand NATO eastward and trying to pull Ukraine into the EU's orbit.
- US President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire and prisoner swap, calling it a potential start to ending the long and deadly war, while Zelenskyy responded with a decree allowing Russia's Victory Day celebrations to proceed without Ukrainian strikes.
- Despite ongoing tensions, Putin suggested former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder as a preferable interlocutor for talks on Europe's security architecture, signaling openness to dialogue with European figures.
