Russian President Vladimir Putin said he believes the conflict with Ukraine is 'coming to an end,' speaking after a scaled-back Victory Day parade in Moscow's Red Square.
'It is a serious matter, but it is coming to an end,' Putin told reporters, while condemning Western support for Kyiv and calling the war a 'just' cause.
A last-minute US-brokered ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv reduced fears of a drone attack on the parade, which saw no tanks or missiles for the first time in nearly two decades due to security concerns. Putin said he would only meet President Volodymyr Zelensky after a lasting peace deal is signed, and expressed interest in negotiating new European security arrangements with Germany's former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.