Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he believes the war between Russia and Ukraine is “heading to an end”.
Putin made the remarks on Saturday while speaking to journalists after events commemorating the 81st anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II.
His comments came as Russia and Ukraine began a three-day ceasefire and agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners.
The Russian leader criticised Western support for Kyiv as both countries accused each other of violating the temporary truce on its first day.
“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 also claimed Russia had earlier proposed a prisoner-of-war exchange with Ukraine, but alleged that Kyiv failed to proceed with 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.”
He added that Moscow later accepted a similar proposal from US President Donald Trump and extended the ceasefire by two days in the hope that the exchange would still happen.
Putin further stated that he remains open to meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but insisted that such talks should only take place after significant progress had been made 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 described the conflict as mainly an issue between Russia and Ukraine, while welcoming efforts by the United States to help broker peace.
“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 its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, marking the latest phase of the prolonged conflict between both countries.