Putin says Ukraine war Is nearing end: Will He finally meet Zelensky outside Russia to sign a peace deal?

Vladimir Putin declared on Saturday that the war in Ukraine was approaching its conclusion, while signalling for the first time a willingness to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky outside Russian territory, provided a comprehensive peace agreement had already been reached. The remarks came hours after a scaled-back Victory Day parade in Moscow and on the first day of a US-brokered three-day ceasefire that both sides almost immediately accused each other of violating.

"I think that the matter is coming to an end," Putin told reporters, while adding that the situation remained serious. "I think it is heading to an end but it's still a serious matter."

The Russian president directed pointed criticism at Western nations for their continued military support of Kyiv, saying their expectations of a Russian collapse had proven unfounded. "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."

"I just heard once more that the Ukrainian side and Zelensky are ready to have a personal meeting. We heard that before. We have never refused; I have never refused. If they propose a meeting, those who want to meet can travel to Moscow," Putin said. "We can meet in a third country as well, but only after there is an ultimate agreement regarding a peace deal that must be a long-term deal. Then we can meet to sign something."

He added: "This should be the final point, not the negotiations themselves."

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who attended the Moscow events, said he delivered a message from Zelensky to Putin stating that the Ukrainian president was ready to meet the Russian leader "in any format."

Putin Names Gerhard Schröder as Preferred European Negotiating Partner

Asked whether he was willing to engage with European nations on peace talks, Putin named a striking choice as his preferred interlocutor. "For me personally, the former chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Schröder, is preferable," he said.

The suggestion is likely to provoke scepticism across Europe. Schröder, who served as German Chancellor from 1998 to 2005, has longstanding personal ties to Putin and was closely associated with the Nord Stream gas pipeline projects. In 2022, following Russia's full-scale invasion, Zelensky publicly described Schröder as "disgusting" after the former chancellor met with Putin and spoke in support of the Russian position.

According to Putin, Russia had grown concerned that Ukrainian strikes during the Victory Day period could endanger foreign diplomatic missions in Kyiv, given the proximity of command and decision-making centres to embassy buildings. Moscow subsequently consulted with China, India and the United States.

"We started working with our major partners and friends, primarily with our friends from the People's Republic of China, India and some other nations, including with the US administration," Putin said. "We simply presented our friends, colleagues, and partners with a picture of what the situation could develop into."

He said those discussions led directly to Trump proposing the ceasefire and a simultaneous prisoner exchange of 1,000 detainees from each side. "We immediately agreed to this proposal, particularly because, in my view, it was fully justified, motivated by respect for our shared victory over Nazism, and clearly humanitarian in nature," Putin stated.

Trump, announcing the agreement on his Truth Social network, wrote: "Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War."

Ceasefire Holds Tenuously as Both Sides Trade Accusations

The first day of the truce was marked by mutual accusations of violations, with continued drone activity and reported civilian casualties on both sides, though no major strikes were confirmed. The Kremlin stated there were no plans to extend the truce beyond the agreed three days. Putin also noted that Russia had submitted a prisoner exchange list to Ukraine on 5 May, naming 500 Ukrainian servicemen held in Russian custody, but said Moscow had yet to receive a firm response from Kyiv.

Putin explained the absence of military equipment as a deliberate operational decision rather than a security precaution, saying Russian forces needed to remain focused on what he described as the "decisive defeat of the enemy" in Ukraine.

Addressing soldiers at the parade, which was also attended by North Korean military units, Putin drew on the memory of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany to frame his current war aims. "The great feat of the generation of victors inspires the soldiers carrying out the goals of the special military operation today. They are confronting an aggressive force armed and supported by the entire NATO bloc. And despite this, our heroes move forward. I firmly believe that our cause is just."

The speech met with a muted reception in parts of Moscow. Internet outages, which Russian authorities imposed citing the threat of Ukrainian cyberattacks, added to a sense of fatigue among some residents. One Moscow economist, a 36-year-old woman named Elena, summed up the mood when asked how she felt about Victory Day. "Nothing," she told a reporter. "I need the internet, and I don't have it."

US-mediated talks on ending the conflict have made limited progress since February, when Washington's diplomatic attention shifted towards its confrontation with Iran.