Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the war in Ukraine is "heading to an end" on Saturday, as a US-brokered three-day ceasefire faced mutual accusations of violations from Moscow and Kyiv. Speaking at a scaled-down Victory Day parade in Moscow, Putin slammed Western support for Ukraine, claiming NATO backed an "aggressive force" against Russia's "just" cause. He suggested he would meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy only after all peace conditions were settled.
The ceasefire, announced Friday by President Donald Trump, was marked by reduced fighting and a planned 1,000-prisoner swap per side. However, the Kremlin stated there are no plans to extend the truce, and Putin said Russia has yet to receive Ukrainian proposals on the exchange.
The Victory Day parade was notably smaller, with no military hardware for the first time in nearly two decades and only close allies like Belarus and Malaysia in attendance. Putin invoked the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany to rally troops, but the speech drew a muted response in Moscow amid internet outages and war fatigue. Now in its fifth year, the conflict has killed hundreds of thousands, with US-mediated talks stalling as Washington shifts focus to its war against Iran.