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Topics: Donald Trump, Russia, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, World News
Callum Jones
Topics: Donald Trump, Russia, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, World News
Vladimir Putin has issued a chilling threat to the rest of Europe and said Russia is 'ready' for war after rejecting Donald Trump's latest peace plan.
During his election campaign, Trump said he would end the war in Ukraine within his first 24 hours back in office, but it's been a lot more complicated than that.
Nearly a year into his time as president, the war in Europe seems no closer to a conclusion after US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, visited the Kremlin earlier this week and were locked into a five-hour discussion.
Vladimir Putin's foreign policy advisor, who was involved in the talks, said 'there's still a lot of work to be done' before Putin and Trump can meet in person again.
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"We could agree on some things, and the president confirmed this to his interlocutors," Yuri Ushakov said. "Other things provoked criticism - and the president also didn't hide our critical and even negative attitude toward a number of proposals."
One particular divisive point regarding any peace plan is whether Ukraine will surrender the entire Donbas region, which Russia has demanded should any plan to peace proceed.
"Territorial issues were specifically discussed, without which we see no resolution to the crisis," Ushakov added.
While a deal for a peace plan looks a long way off, the Russian official described the talks as 'rather useful, constructive and rather substantive'.
Prior to the comments made by Ushakov, Putin warned that Russia was 'ready' to fight should a war arise in Europe.
"We're not planning to go to war with Europe, I've said that a hundred times," the Russian president said after an investment forum.
"But if Europe suddenly wants to fight us and starts, we're ready right now. There can be no doubt about that."
Putin continued: "If Europe suddenly wants to start a war with us and does, then a situation could very quickly arise in which we have no one to negotiate with."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Dublin on Tuesday (December 2), where he admitted a lot was riding on the talks between Moscow and Washington this week.
"The future and the next steps depend on these signals," he said during a news conference. "If the signals show fair play with our partners, we then might meet very soon."
Zelenskyy added: "Our people are dying every day. I am ready ... to meet with President Trump. It all depends on the talks."