Europeans accuse Putin of feigning interest in peace after talks with US envoys

Kyiv: Ukrainian and European officials accused Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday of feigning interest in peace efforts after five hours of talks with US envoys at the Kremlin produced no breakthrough.

The Russian leader “should end the bluster and the bloodshed and be ready to come to the table and to support a just and lasting peace,” said UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged Putin to “stop wasting the world’s time.” The remarks reflect the high tensions and gaping gulf that remain between Russia on one side and Ukraine and its European allies on the other over how to end a war that Moscow started when it invaded its neighbour nearly four years ago.

A day earlier, Putin accused the Europeans of sabotaging the US-led peace efforts — and warned that, if provoked, Russia would be ready for war with Europe. Since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022, European governments, along with the US, have spent billions of dollars to support Kyiv financially and militarily. Under President Donald Trump, however, the US has tempered its support — and instead made a push to end the war. On Wednesday, the Kremlin spokesman said he wouldn’t discuss the substance of the talks but pushed back on any suggestion that Putin had rejected the US peace plan.