Putin says war ‘coming to an end’ as Germany rejects his peace mediator

Putin Says War in Ukraine Is “Coming to an End” After Stripped-Down Victory Day Parade

Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters on Saturday that he believes the war in Ukraine is “approaching its end,” hours after presiding over the most diminished Victory Day parade in Moscow in nearly two decades — one that for the first time since 2007 featured no tanks, missiles, or other heavy military equipment on Red Square. The remarks, made on May 9 amid a U.S.-brokered three-day ceasefire, drew immediate skepticism from analysts who said they were aimed at a domestic audience rather than reflecting any genuine shift toward peace.fortune

Rhetoric vs. Reality

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed that Putin’s comments offered “no indication that Russia intends to end the war,” noting that the Russian president avoided discussing the actual battlefield situation and instead simply declared that Russia’s victory is “inevitable”. ISW found that Russian forces used the ceasefire to regroup, rotate troops, reinforce positions, and move logistics — activity the institute said was likely aimed at supporting future offensive operations. A senior Kremlin official, Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, had stated days earlier that Ukraine must withdraw from unoccupied Donetsk Oblast as a precondition for a ceasefire — a demand ISW noted Russian forces have themselves failed to achieve on the battlefield.x

Putin’s speech framed the conflict as this generation’s equivalent of the Soviet struggle against Nazi Germany, urging Russians to endure hardships for a greater cause. According to ISW, this framing reflects Putin’s awareness of mounting war costs at home, with at least 352,000 Russian service members killed through the end of 2025 and total casualties reportedly reaching 1.3 million as of February 2026.understandingwar

A Scaled-Down Spectacle

The Kremlin attributed the absence of military hardware to the “current operational situation,” but officials and analysts said the real driver was fear of Ukrainian drone strikes deep inside Russian territory. The BBC reported that the 45-minute parade felt “distinctly different,” with far fewer journalists present after Russian authorities revoked foreign media accreditation on the eve of the event. In a first, North Korean troops marched alongside Russian soldiers on Red Square, a gesture acknowledging Pyongyang’s deployment of roughly 15,000 soldiers to assist Russian forces.dw

Schröder Proposal Swiftly Rejected

Putin also proposed former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder as his preferred mediator for any talks between Russia and the European Union, after European Council President Antonio Costa suggested there was “potential” for EU-Russia negotiations. Germany dismissed the idea within hours. According to Reuters, a German official said the proposal lacked credibility because Russia had not changed any of its conditions for ending the war. A German government spokesperson added that Berlin sees no signs Moscow is interested in serious negotiations, stressing that any EU talks with Russia must be closely coordinated with member states and Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have likewise rejected the suggestion. The real test, the German official said, will be whether Moscow is prepared to extend the three-day ceasefire beyond its May 11 expiration.internazionale