Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday hinted that the Ukraine war could soon end. Speaking to reporters after marking Russia's Victory Day parade, Putin said: "I think that the ‌matter is coming to an end." The comment was made in response to a question about whether Western help to Ukraine went too far. The Russian leader said: "They started ratcheting up the confrontation with Russia, which continues to this day. I think it is heading to an end, but it's still a serious matter."

Putin's remarks come as Kyiv and Moscow observe a three-day ceasefire in Russia's war in Ukraine this weekend. The truce was announced on Friday by US President Donald Trump after negotiations brokered by Washington. European Council President Antonio Costa on Thursday said the European Union was prepared to hold separate talks with Russia and Ukraine “when the right moment comes."

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[–] 124 points 4 months ago (24 children)

As if he's not in complete control of when it ends.

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    [–] 101 points 4 months ago (5 children)

    The comment was made in response to a question about whether Western help to Ukraine went too far. The Russian leader said: “They started ratcheting up the confrontation with Russia, which continues to this day. I think it is heading to an end, but it’s still a serious matter.”

    I'm not reading that as him saying Russia are going to stop, but that he thinks that the West will stop providing aid to Ukraine soon. Considering that his Washington puppet is doing their best to destabilise NATO, and Europe in general, he could easily be hoping for aid to be cut.

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  • [–] 37 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    So he didn't notice that Europe created an alternative NATO and just didn't invite the US?

    Nope, he's smarter than that. The entire thing is just bullshit for the Russian population.

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  • [–] 15 points 4 months ago

    he could easily be hoping for aid to be cut.

    That's just flat out wrong, European countries have shown they are willing to support Ukraine for as long as it is needed.
    And have increased aid to cover the loss from USA not helping. There are also long term aid packages like the Swedish Vigen jet fighters that will ensure Ukraine is continuing to strengthen in their military capabilities.

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    [–] 88 points 4 months ago (14 children)

    His little operation convinced Europe to rearm and made Ukraine a security exporter. Now he's down in a bunker desperately looking for ways to save face before the tide turns furher against him.

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  • [–] 36 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    No matter how you look at this Russia has lost and this is exactly why, even if you ignore ethics, dictatorships don't work long term. It just takes one failure like this to set back decades of work. It happens to every dictatorship eventually.

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  • [–] 34 points 4 months ago (8 children)

    Exactly this. Ukraine has started open cooperation with foreign weapons companies, inviting them to come test their autonomous systems in real battlefield conditions. Given that the rest of Europe is arming up against potential Russian hostility, the opportunity to test your new weapons against their most likely opponent is a golden ticket. My guess is a lot of these new designs are proving effective, and Putin is realizing that any more 'special military operations' will be taken as proof positive that Russia has turned conquistador and met with overwhelming force by most of the rest of Europe.

    It's also possible he's just running out of troops. The last estimate I saw was something like 340,000 Russian casualties...

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  • [–] 19 points 4 months ago* (5 children)

    The last estimate I saw was something like 340,000 Russian casualties

    You missed a million! Circa 1,339,190 Russians killed or injured since the invasion began.

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  • [–] 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    Their sources likely count differently. Dead only, vs. dead + wounded.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    You wanna sink a war machine? It's quite easy. Just drown them in wounded troops, not corpses. Corpses don't move, corpses don't eat, corpses don't need to be cleaned or bathed, corpses don't need expensive surgery and therapy to get back to living normally, corpses don't need teams of people to look after them. Wounded troops do. Wounded troops are expensive, corpses are cheap.

    Flood the machine with wounded. Make every advance so miserable and destructive to the budget and supply line that any sensible general will eventually say "fuck it!" and pull out. That's what Ukraine has been doing, unfortunately Putin isn't sensible and has surrounded himself with sycophants.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago

    this is exactly it.

    It's far better for Ukraine to blow off arms and legs than kill soldiers. The more wounded sent back to RU, especially those who can't be rehabbed back into combat readiness, the better. And the more of such people who get into RU society the better- SHOW the RU people the cost of the war. Don't let it be some abstract concept like war is to Americans.

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  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago

    Just for context, America lost about 58,000 soldiers in 10-12 years in Vietnam, and about 4000 on 20 years in Afghanistan.

    Putin has lost 1.3 MILLION+ soldiers in a only 2-3 years. He's gone from a voluntary military, to a draft, to commuting prison sentences, to literally snatching military age males off the streets, to hiring mercenaries. He's quickly running out options for his war machine.

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    [–] 43 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    A three hour day tour special military operation.

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    [–] 40 points 4 months ago

    Never trust putin.

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  • [–] 39 points 4 months ago (5 children)

    At this point, I think the war is over when Ukraine says its over.

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  • [–] 7 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    I think it pretty much only ends when one side agrees to give territory to the other in order to end it.

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  • [–] 34 points 4 months ago*

    Yeah with him losing because someone inside is gonna get fed up with him enough and convince gods buddy with the guards to let them just finish him off early before old age to save their own country.

    Our Ukraine just straight up wins and takes control of Moscow or something idk, that would end it pretty abruptly too yeah

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  • [–] 22 points 4 months ago

    That is up to Zelenskyy; not bunker bitch.

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  • [–] 20 points 4 months ago

    Putin: "The war will be over soon"

    Trump: "The war will be over soon"

    At least the liars lies are easy to spot, because they're so transparent.

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  • [–] 16 points 4 months ago

    It will end with Putler's head on a pike.

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  • [–] 13 points 4 months ago (5 children)

    Wow, coming from him, that's pretty big.

    Let's see if deeds follow words. I highly doubt it.

    It could be mere opinion chess. Make Ukraine look war hungry in this farce some people call "peace negotiations"

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  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    Putin is a lot like his puppet Trump. He can say this "special operation" is over as many times as he likes, that doesn't make it true.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Nonetheless, this is the first time he has openly spoken about bringing the war to an end. Until now the narrative was that it will continue until complete victory. That's why this acknowledgement is a much more momentous statement than the actual meaning of what he said.

    That being said, at this point I think the Ukrainians might keep the war going until they get complete victory. Although they are also incredibly war weary, so probably not.

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  • [–] 11 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    I hope he picked his favorite handgun to do what he must.

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    [–] 11 points 4 months ago

    Ready to give up, are you?

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  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago* (2 children)

    He can't end the war. He'd have to admit that 500,000 young Russian men are not fighting at the front lines, but are dead and not coming home. The loved ones are going to hang him when they find out.

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  • [–] 7 points 4 months ago

    So is he leaving?

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago

    Sounds to me like Putin is a scared little bitch these days.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago*

    Started with the war again

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