Putin says war in Ukraine may be coming to an end

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on Saturday that the war in Ukraine was coming to an end, while castigating Western support for Kyiv, as the first day of a US-brokered ceasefire was marked by mutual accusations of violations.

Putin spoke after telling soldiers at a small parade in Moscow that they were fighting an “aggressive force” in Ukraine supported by the whole of NATO, presenting its war objectives as “just”.

The Russian leader has made the memory of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany during the Second World War a pillar of his political narrative for 25 years, using it regularly to justify his offensive in Ukraine.

The Russian authorities usually celebrate the Victory Day parade with pomp and solemnity. But a series of long-range Ukrainian attacks in recent weeks has pushed the Kremlin to step up security measures and reduce the scale of celebrations this year.

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Asked after the parade whether Western military aid to Ukraine had gone too far, Putin replied: “They began to intensify the confrontation with Russia, and this continues to this day. HAS”

“I think the conflict is coming to an end, but it remains a serious matter. HAS”

“They spent months waiting for Russia to suffer a crushing defeat, for its state to collapse. It didn’t work. HAS”

“And then they got stuck in this pattern and now they can’t get out of it,” Putin said of Western countries, faithfully following the propaganda manuals developed in the Kremlin, not far from where he was speaking to journalists.

Putin added that he was ready to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Moscow – and in a third country only once all conditions for a possible peace deal were settled.

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No doubt, he was also thinking of the guarantees of his own security: under arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for having facilitated the trafficking of Ukrainian children, forcibly moved to Russia and forcibly “deukranized”, he only ventured into countries which were sure not to extradite him.

Ceasefire violations

After two failed attempts at a truce this week, both by Russia and Ukraine, US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that a three-day ceasefire between the two camps would come into effect from Saturday.

Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of violations, but no major strikes have been reported, despite continued drone activity and civilian casualties on both sides.

“I hope this is the beginning of the end of a very long, bloody and bitter war,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network, adding that the ceasefire would be accompanied by an exchange of prisoners.

The Kremlin has indicated that there are currently no plans to extend the truce.

The belligerents also agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each during the truce. But Putin said on Saturday that Russia had not yet received a proposal from Ukraine regarding the exchange.

Russian progress non-existent on the front

According to an analysis by the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, Russian forces have failed to “make any significant operational progress over the past year,” while the Defense Forces ” recorded their greatest battlefield successes during the winter and spring of 2026 since the launch of the Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region of Russia in August 2024.

Experts also point out that “the successes of the Ukrainian defense on the battlefield have prevented Russian troops from making significant advances in the theater of operations”, thus depriving Russian leader Vladimir Putin of any notable operational successes he might have had. celebrate May 9.

The report recalls that Russian troops first entered Kostiantynivka (the southernmost town of Ukraine’s “fortified belt”) in October 2025 and have failed to achieve significant operational successes over the past six months.

The institute’s experts point out that Ukrainian forces liberated a large part of Kupiansk in November 2025, as well as more than 400 square kilometers in southern Ukraine following a series of counter-offensives carried out during the winter and spring of 2026, and recently liberated several localities in the west of the Zaporizhia region at the end of April 2026.

Additionally, thanks to an operational campaign aimed at delivering long-range strikes against Russian military and oil infrastructure at depth, the functioning of Russian frontline communications systems and drone operations were significantly disrupted, resulting in led to a drop in Russia’s oil and gas revenues.

Un défilé réduit

The parade was significantly more modest than in previous years, with no military equipment on display for the first time in nearly twenty years and the presence of only a few foreign dignitaries, most of them leaders of Russia’s close allies.

In his speech at the parade, which included Russian army units as well as North Korean soldiers (Pyongyang sent several thousand troops to help Moscow resist the Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region), Putin invoked the Soviet victory to mobilize support for his army in Ukraine.

“The great feat of the victor generation inspires today the soldiers who fulfill the goals of the special military operation,†Putin said, using a Kremlin euphemism for his war of aggression in Ukraine.

“They are facing an aggressive force armed and supported by the entire NATO bloc. And despite this, our heroes move forward,” he said.

“I am deeply convinced that our cause is just,” he added later.

The speech was coolly received by some residents of Moscow, with internet shutdowns, draconian security measures and weariness in the face of a conflict that has lasted four years – already longer than the “Great Patriotic War” which pitted the USSR against Nazi Germany – casting a shadow over the commemorations.

Asked how she felt on Victory Day, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union during the Second World War, Elena, a 36-year-old economist, replied: “Nothing. HAS”

“I need the internet, and I don’t have it,†she told reporters in central Moscow, adding that she would not watch the parade.

Russia implemented occasional internet blackouts for the duration of the parade, citing increased threats of Ukrainian attacks.

Only the leaders of Belarus, Malaysia, Laos, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan were on the list of participants, far from the high-profile visitors present last year, including China’s Xi Jinping.

Slovak President Robert Fico, whose country is a member of the European Union, traveled to Moscow to meet Putin in person, but was not seen on Red Square in the Russian capital, near the stands of the mausoleum containing the embalmed body of the architect of the Russian revolution Lenin.

Entering its fifth year, the war left hundreds of thousands dead and became the deadliest conflict Europe has seen since the Second World War.

Talks on ending the fighting, led by the United States, have made little progress since February, when Washington refocused its efforts on its war against Iran.

This text was translated with the help of artificial intelligence. Report a problem: [feedback-articles-fr@euronews.com].