Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he thought the Ukraine conflict was coming to an end. Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine triggered the most serious crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war. "I think that the matter is coming to an end," Putin told reporters of the Ukraine war. Putin was speaking in the Kremlin after Russia held its most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years. The May 9 national holiday celebrates the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two and pays homage to the 27 million Soviet citizens who perished in the war. Victory in Ukraine, though, has been elusive for Russia. During four years of the deadliest European conflict since World War Two, Russian forces have so far been unable to take the whole of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine where Kyiv's forces have been pushed back to a line of fortress cities. The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, left swathes of Ukraine in ruins and drained Russia's $3 trillion economy, while Russia's relations with Europe are worse than at any time since the depths of the Cold War. The Financial Times reported on Thursday that European Union leaders were preparing for potential talks. Asked if he was willing to engage in talks with the Europeans, he said the preferable figure for him was former Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. "For me personally, the former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Schröder, is preferable," Putin said. The Kremlin said last week that it was for European governments to make the first move, as they were the ones who severed contact with Moscow in 2022 after the start of the war in Ukraine. When asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Putin said a meeting was possible only once a lasting peace deal was agreed.
