Vladimir Putin has sparked fresh World War Three fears by claiming that Russia is ‘ready’ for war with Europe ‘right away’.
The Russian President was speaking amid talks regarding the war in Ukraine and claimed that European countries are attempting to sabotage the peace process.
Vladimir Putin comes out firing amid Ukraine peace talks
The US and Russia didn’t make much progress on the peace talks, according to a senior aide to Putin, hours after Putin himself made threats towards European powers and claimed Russia is ready for war with them.
It's not the first time that Putin has threatened Europe and the USA, and speculation has even previously turned to potential sites of attack.
Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov later said that a meeting with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff had not been a productive one.
He said that the two sides are ‘neither further nor closer to resolving the crisis in Ukraine’ and added: “There is a lot of work to be done.”
However, he did say that the meeting was ‘extremely useful, constructive, and informed’.
Putin’s comments didn’t quite reflect that.
Putin says Russia is ‘ready for war’ with Europe
As he arrived for talks, Putin accused European countries of attempting to stymie the peace talks and said that ‘European demands’ were ‘not acceptable to Russia’.
He said: “Europe is preventing the US administration from achieving peace on Ukraine,
“Russia does not intend to fight Europe, but if Europe starts, we are ready right now.”
He didn’t mention any countries by name, but he added: “They are on the side of war.”
After Putin’s comments and the subsequent talks, US secretary Marco Rubio said that ‘some progress’ was made, as he told Fox News: “What we have tried to do, and I think have made some progress, is figure out, what could the Ukrainians live with that gives them security guarantees for the future.”
He added that the US wants to forge a compromise that will allow Ukraine to ‘not just rebuild their economy, but to prosper as a country’.
It’s not clear whether Russia will accept any concessions at all, and some suspect that continuing the war could assist them as Trump loses patience with European allies and Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the plan ‘looks better’ but clarified that it is ‘not over yet’.
His objections include surrendering territory in the country that they currently control, as well as limits to the size of the Ukrainian military.
He also wants concrete guarantees that Russia will not invade his country again, a hope shared by several other countries in Europe.
The talks seem set to continue for some time.