Putin says Russia is 'ready for war' with Europe - as Trump delegates leave Moscow without Ukraine peace deal
The Russian leader claimed his country is 'not planning to go to war' but are ready if 'Europe wants to'
Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia is 'ready for war' with Europe as US negotiators failed to make progress towards ending the Ukraine war
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Prior to peace talks with Jared Kushner and US envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, the Russian president said: "We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now."
Putin welcomed the US delegation to the Russian capital on Tuesday for the latest round of Ukraine peace talks aimed at ending the Ukraine war.
After the meeting, a senior Kremlin aide told Russian media that the two sides were “neither further nor closer to resolving the crisis in Ukraine. There is a lot of work to be done.”
Yuri Ushakov said of the five-hour meeting: “We did not discuss … specific American proposals, but discussed the essence of what is embedded in these American documents”.
Discussing Donald Trump's latest plans to send the three-year conflict, Ushakov said: “We could agree with some things … and [Putin] also did not hide our critical and even negative attitude towards a number of proposals.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine agreed to the US’ 20-point peace plan to end the war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced.
While Mr Zelenskyy has admitted that "some things still need to be worked out," he said the agreement marks "one of the most challenging and yet optimistic moments at the same time" for achieving peace in Ukraine more than three years into Vladimir Putin’s illegal war.
"Now more than ever there is a chance to end this war", Mr Zelenskyy said.
He refused to share the full details of the plan but specified what he described as the "most sensitive things and most difficult questions and challenges."
Meanwhile speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting in Washington, President Trump described the war in Ukraine as a "mess" and "not an easy situation to resolve".
He told reporters on Tuesday that he was trying to get Ukraine's war with Russia "settled," which he claimed would be the ninth during his tenure.
Ahead of a cabinet meeting in Washington, Trump said: "We're trying to get [the war] settled. I've settled eight wars. This would be the ninth, and our people are over in Russia right now to see if we can get it settled.
"Not an easy situation, let me tell you. What a mess."
It also comes as Mr Zelenskyy, who is on a state visit to Ireland, told an event in Dublin the speed of peace negotiations - and the US interest in the negotiations - had given him cause for optimism.
The Ukrainian president said: "A little bit [of] optimism was, in my words, [found] because of some speed of negotiations, and from the American side, their interest in it.
"It showed that America is not withdrawing now from any kind of diplomatic way of dialogue and it is good."
Reacting to Putin's comments earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said the Russian president's words demonstrate that he does not plan to end the war.
"Russia must end the bloodshed it has started. If this doesn’t happen and Putin just spits into the world's face once again, there must be consequences," Sybiha said.
"Russia must stop wasting the world's time, which must be the time for peace."He added that now is time "to force the source of war in Moscow to end it."