Putin signals an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, but what now? | | Narrative Articles

Vladimir Putin has shown that his country is at war with Ukraine can ‘come to the end’as the Russian president he also criticized the West for prolonging the war through military support in Kyiv.

Speaking after the Victory Day events in Moscow, Putin said on Sunday that he was ready to hold direct talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Moscow or a neutral country.

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His comments come as Russia and Ukraine observe a three-day ban suspended by the United States and resume prisoner exchange talks. However, most peace talks have stalled, and the two sides continue to fight each other.

Ukrainian officials said on Sunday that Russian militants had left at least three people dead, and that at least 150 military strikes had been carried out in the past 24 hours.

The statement also shows that both sides are suffering after more than four years of war that has devastated parts of Ukraine and disrupted the economy of Russia.

What did Putin say?

“I think the story is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters of Russia’s war with Ukraine, the deadliest war in Europe since World War II.

The Russian leader, however, added that he would be willing to meet with Zelenskyy only if a peace agreement had already been established. The Kremlin rejected US President Donald Trump’s offer in August 2025 to hold a tripartite meeting with Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump.

“This should be a final decision, not just a negotiation,” Putin said after Victory Day, which marks Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 during World War II.

The Russian president said he is ready to negotiate a new security policy with Europe, and that the partner he wants to negotiate with is former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Schroeder was widely criticized in Germany for his close relationship with the Russian president. The former German chancellor became chairman of the German-Russian oil pipeline deal after he left office in 2005.

Russia has accused the West of expanding the NATO security alliance to surround it, and Putin has offered this as one of the reasons for Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He framed the expansion of NATO as a “matter of life and death” for Russia.

Asked about the protests if Western military aid to Ukraine had gone too far, Putin said, “They started a conflict with Russia, which continues to this day.”

Putin also said that the West “spent months waiting for Russia to be completely defeated, for its country to be destroyed.

“Then he got stuck in the hole, and now he can’t get out,” he added.

Why is Putin talking about ending the war now?

The Russian president’s view that the end of the war is near is driven more by international “hope and hope” than by a serious reading of his words, according to academic Keir Giles.

Giles, a fellow at Chatham House, said that there have been “many promises in the last 18 months that the end of the war is near”, none of which “has turned into reality”, he told Al Jazeera.

He cautioned against interpreting Putin’s comments as a reliable sign that the conflict is about to end.

“The best we can hope for is that now Putin realizes that Russia is not winning this war,” he said, adding that Putin may be “more willing to stop than before when he rejected all of Trump’s peace efforts because he believes that Russia can gain more by fighting than by Trump forcing a ceasefire”.

The war has killed thousands of people on both sides, left parts of eastern Ukraine in ruins, and destroyed Russia’s $3 trillion economy. Western-led sanctions have also affected Russia’s economy.

Moscow’s relationship with Europe is worse than at any time since the middle of the Cold War. Although Russia controls almost a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, it is struggling to retake the eastern Donbas region, while Ukrainian forces have failed to recapture large swaths of territory.

Putin’s statement also coincides with new US-led efforts to push both sides for a temporary ceasefire and humanitarian agreements. Trump on Friday publicly supported the three-day event, saying he hoped it would be “the beginning of the end” of the war.

The US president has put ending the war in Ukraine at the heart of his 2024 election campaign, although he says he could end the war within 24 hours of taking office.

The deal has been seen as difficult because Russia insists on occupying the entire Donbas region and opposes Ukraine’s entry into NATO, while Kyiv has refused to accept any part and wants security guarantees to be part of any deal.