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Russian leader says European demands for Ukraine peace deal are ‘absolutely unacceptable’
Maira ButtTuesday 02 December 2025 15:27 GMTComments
ClosePutin: Russia will achieve its goals in Ukraine by force unless Kyiv withdraws
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President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is ready to fight a war with Europe if it is provoked in his latest threat against the West.
“We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” he said on Tuesday. “They are on the side of war.”
He accused Europe of making demands on a possible peace settlement for Ukraine, which he said Russia finds “absolutely unacceptable”.
Putin suggested European powers were hindering President Donald Trump’s efforts to broker a peace deal in order to accuse Russia of not wanting peace.
By cutting off contact with Russia, European powers have locked themselves out of peace talks, the leader added.
The comments came at the plenary session of the VTB Russia Calling Investment forum in Moscow on Tuesday ahead of talks with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
open image in gallery(AP)Witkoff landed in Moscow earlier in the day to negotiate the terms of a possible peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
The visit follows a flurry of diplomatic activity in the past fortnight involving US, Ukrainian, European and Russian officials.
Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky revealed on Tuesday that the US and Ukraine have agreed on a new 20-point peace deal, as talks between Witkoff and Putin began in the Kremlin.
The Ukrainian president said that the original 28-point roadmap proposed by the US last month had been reworked into a new agreement following discussions between officials.
open image in gallery(AP)"Some things still need to be worked out," he told reporters on a visit to Dublin, adding that this marked "one of the most challenging and yet optimistic moments at the same time" for peace in Ukraine.
Zelensky provided an update on peace negotiations as he said a European counter-proposal to US president Donald Trump’s peace plan had been refined.
“The work was based on the Geneva document, and that document has been refined,” Zelensky wrote on X on Tuesday as he called for more European involvement.
“Our diplomats are actively working with all partners to ensure that European countries and other participants in the Coalition of the Willing are meaningfully involved in developing decisions.”
Fighting has intensified around the key strategic city of Pokrovsk, with Russia declaring its capture. Ukraine has denied the claims and maintains that fighting remains ongoing.
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