MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said the war in Ukraine is moving toward an end, hours after declaring at the Victory Day parade in Moscow that Russia would prevail in the conflict.
At the military parade on Red Square on Saturday marking Russia’s Victory Day, Putin invoked the national pride of defeating Germany in World War II and said: “Victory has always been ours, and it always will be.” Hours later, in a news conference at the Kremlin, Putin said: “I think the matter is heading toward an end.” He was referring to the war between Russia and Ukraine but did not detail how the war might end.
Speaking at the Kremlin, Putin laid out his view of the war’s cause. He blamed “globalist” Western leaders, saying they had promised after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 that NATO would not expand eastward but then tried to draw Ukraine into the European Union’s sphere of influence.
Russia has been at war with Ukraine for more than four years. The fighting began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022 in response to Ukraine’s interest in joining the U.S.-led NATO alliance. Russia marks Victory Day each May 9 to celebrate the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, paying tribute to the 27 million Soviet citizens killed in that war.
The war has plunged relations between Russia and the West into the worst crisis since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. In the early months of the war, many feared the world was on the brink of nuclear conflict.
Putin described the war as Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. He said he was prepared to discuss a new security architecture for Europe and named former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as his preferred negotiating partner.
A three-day cease-fire tied to Russia’s Victory Day is in effect from May 9 to May 11. U.S. President Donald Trump announced the cease-fire in a social-media post Friday. The Kremlin said peace talks brokered by the Trump administration to end the war are currently suspended.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report