Vladimir Putin has told reporters he thinks the Ukraine war is winding down - a remark that came just hours after he presided over Moscow’s most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years, where not a single tank rolled by, presumably because they were all busy elsewhere.
“I think that the matter is coming to an end,” Putin said of the conflict, Europe’s deadliest since World War II, which has killed hundreds of thousands, left swathes of Ukraine in ruins, and drained Russia’s economy. He added that he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, and that his preferred negotiating partner would be Germany’s former chancellor Gerhard Schröder - a choice that will surprise no one who remembers Schröder’s cozy relationship with Russian gas pipelines.
Russian forces have so far failed to take the entire Donbas region, though Moscow controls just under one-fifth of Ukrainian territory. Advances have slowed this year, which may explain Putin’s sudden optimism about an ending. Speaking Saturday, he slammed Western support for Kyiv, saying the West “started ratcheting up the confrontation with Russia, which continues to this day.” He added, “They spent months waiting for Russia to suffer a crushing defeat… It didn’t work out. And then they got stuck in that groove and now they can’t get out of it.”
Putin said he was ready to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a third country - but only once all conditions for a peace agreement were settled, which is his usual way of saying “not yet.” Asked about talks with Europeans, he singled out Schröder, a close friend with deep ties to Russian business, including the Nord Stream pipelines. Zelenskyy, who once called Schröder “disgusting,” is unlikely to be thrilled.
The remarks came a day after Russia, Ukraine, and Donald Trump announced a three-day ceasefire, which immediately saw mutual accusations of violations amid continued drone activity and civilian casualties. The Kremlin said there are no plans to prolong the truce, though both sides agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners each. Putin said Russia hadn’t received any proposals on the exchange yet.
This year’s Victory Day parade was vastly smaller than previous ones, with no military hardware on display for the first time in nearly two decades and only a handful of foreign dignitaries - leaders of Belarus, Malaysia, Laos, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan - in attendance. Last year, China’s Xi Jinping showed up; this year, he apparently had other plans. In the week prior, Moscow threatened to bomb central Kyiv if the parade was disturbed, which is one way to ensure a peaceful event.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, observed Saturday as Europe Day, calling Ukraine an “inseparable part of the European family” and noting that Europe has stood with Ukraine “from the first days of the full-scale war.” He added, “This is not charity - it is a choice made by Europeans: to stand on the same side as the brave and the strong.” The European Council president, António Costa, recently said there is “potential” for the EU to negotiate with Russia on Europe’s future security architecture - though given Putin’s preferred partners, that might be a short conversation.