Vladimir Putin has said the war in Ukraine is “heading to an end” despite fresh accusations of ceasefire violations exchanged between Moscow and Kyiv during the first day of a US-brokered truce.
Putin made the remarks on Saturday after attending Russia’s scaled-down Victory Day parade in Moscow, where he defended the Kremlin’s military campaign in Ukraine and criticised continued Western support for Kyiv.
Addressing soldiers and attendees at the event, the Russian president claimed Russia was confronting “an aggressive force” backed by NATO and maintained that Moscow’s actions in the conflict were justified.
“They started ratcheting up the confrontation with Russia, which continues to this day,” Putin said in reference to Western nations supporting Ukraine. “I think it is heading to an end, but it’s still a serious matter.”
He also accused Western countries of expecting Russia to collapse under the pressure of the prolonged conflict.
“They spent months waiting for Russia to suffer a crushing defeat, for its statehood to collapse. It didn’t work out,” he said. “And then they got stuck in that groove, and now they can’t get out of it.”
The comments came as both Russia and Ukraine accused each other of breaching a three-day ceasefire reportedly brokered by Donald Trump.
Although no major missile attacks were reported during the first day of the truce, both sides claimed drone strikes and civilian casualties still occurred.
Trump had earlier described the ceasefire as a potential breakthrough in the conflict.
“Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard-fought war,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The US president also stated that the ceasefire agreement would include a planned prisoner exchange between both countries. Reports indicated that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each.
However, the Kremlin later said there were no plans to extend the ceasefire beyond the agreed period, while Putin claimed Moscow had not yet received formal proposals from Ukraine concerning the prisoner swap.
Putin further stated that he was open to meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a third country, but only after all terms of a peace agreement had already been settled.
“This should be the final point, not the negotiations themselves,” he said.
This year’s Victory Day parade in Moscow was notably smaller than previous editions, with no military hardware displayed for the first time in nearly two decades.
The event was held under heightened security following recent long-range Ukrainian attacks, while authorities reportedly imposed internet shutdowns during the ceremony over security concerns.
During the parade, Putin again compared Russia’s ongoing military campaign in Ukraine to the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II — a theme that has remained central to his political messaging.
“The great feat of the generation of victors inspires the soldiers carrying out the goals of the special military operation today,” he said. “They are confronting an aggressive force armed and supported by the entire NATO bloc.”
“I firmly believe that our cause is just,” Putin added.
The ceremony was attended mainly by leaders from Russia’s allied nations, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, and Uzbekistan, while North Korean soldiers also participated in the parade.
The war in Ukraine, now entering its fifth year, remains Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, with hundreds of thousands of people reportedly killed since fighting began.