Russian President Vladimir Putin says he believes the war
with Ukraine is “heading to an end”.
According to AFP, Putin spoke on Saturday while answering
questions from journalists after events marking the 81st anniversary of the
Soviet Union’s victory in World War II.
The remarks came as Russia and Ukraine began a three-day
ceasefire and agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners.
Putin criticised Western backing for Kyiv as Russia and
Ukraine traded accusations of ceasefire violations on the first day of a
temporary truce.
“And they started ratcheting up the confrontation with
Russia, which continues to this day. I think it (the war) is heading to an end,
but it’s still a serious matter,” he said.
“They spent months waiting for Russia to suffer a crushing
defeat, for its statehood to collapse. It didn’t work out.
“And then they got stuck in that groove and now they can’t
get out of it.”
Putin relayed that Russia had proposed a prisoner-of-war
(POW) exchange with Ukraine earlier this month, but claimed Kyiv failed to
follow through on the arrangement.
“As early as 5 May, we conveyed to the Ukrainian side a
proposal on a POW exchange and sent a list of 500 Ukrainian servicemen
currently held in Russia,” he said.
“First, Kiev said the list needed to be studied more
carefully… perhaps not all 500, but, say, 200 people could be exchanged. Then
the Ukrainian side effectively went silent and stated outright that it was not
ready for this exchange.”
The Russian leader said Moscow later welcomed a similar
proposal from US President Donald Trump and extended a ceasefire by two days in
hopes that the exchange would still take place.
Putin also said he is open to a meeting with Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky, but underlined that talks should only happen
after substantial progress towards a peace agreement.
“As for Zelensky’s proposal for a personal meeting — sure,
let whoever wants to meet come to Moscow,” he said.
“A meeting can also take place in a third country, but only
once final agreements have been reached on a peace treaty designed for a
long-term historical perspective.”
He said the war is fundamentally between Russia and Ukraine,
although he welcomed efforts by the United States to help broker a settlement.
“The conflict primarily concerns Russia and Ukraine. If
others want to help — and we can see that the current US Administration and the
US President sincerely seek a settlement — we can only be grateful,” Putin
said.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February
24, 2022, marking the commencement of the current phase of the protracted
conflict.
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