Moscow, Dec 2, (dpa/GNA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin, held talks in Moscow on Tuesday with US representatives, about a possible end to the war in Ukraine.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, took part in the meeting in the Kremlin.
Immediately beforehand, the Russian president issued a stern warning to Ukraine and its supporters in Europe. If Europe wants to fight and starts doing so, Russia is ready to respond immediately, Putin asserted.
Putin criticised the changes made to Trump’s original 28-point peace plan at the insistence of the Europeans. According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, Putin said Europe’s proposals were aimed “at blocking the peace process.”
Putin said Russia is prepared to involve Europeans in negotiations, as long as they recognize wjhat he termed the realities on the battlefield in Ukraine.
The Kremlin on Monday announced the capture of the key eastern Ukraine city of Pokrovsk, a claim that was rejected by Kiev on Tuesday.
“We have no intention of fighting Europe, I’ve said that 100 times,” Putin said. “But if Europe wants to fight again and starts, then we are ready for that immediately.”
The European Union has made it clear on several occasions that it will not accept a violent shift of Europe’s borders, and only Ukraine can decide on its territories.
Putin insists that Ukraine must surrender the eastern Donbass region, in order to achieve peace, including areas that Russian forces have failed to seize in more than three and a half years of war. Kiev categorically rejects the position.
Witkoff and Kushner were to present the current US peace plan for ending the war in the Kremlin. Its exact content is not publicly known. However, the plan, which was made public at the end of November, has undergone various changes in recent days because many of the initial proposals were unacceptable to Ukraine and the European states.
Putin threatened Ukraine with harsh retaliation, following attacks on Russian tankers and ships calling at Russian-controlled ports.
“We are expanding our attacks on port facilities and ships calling at Ukrainian ports,” Putin said, adding that as a last resort he would cut Ukraine off from the sea.
Putin described the attacks in neutral waters as piracy, and blamed them directly on the Ukrainian armed forces. “If this continues, we will consider countermeasures against ships from countries that are helping Ukraine in these acts of piracy,” Putin said.
In recent days, two tankers belonging to the so-called Russian shadow fleet in the Black Sea had been attacked with sea drones.
GNA