'They are on the side of war': Putin accuses EU of blocking peace talks ahead of Trump envoys’ visit

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday issued a stark warning to Europe, saying the continent would face a rapid and crushing defeat if it went to war with Russia.

His remarks came just hours before he was scheduled to meet two of US President Donald Trump’s most influential envoys at the Kremlin.

Trump has repeatedly said he intends to end the conflict in Ukraine — Europe’s deadliest since World War Two — but despite a summit with Putin in Alaska in August and multiple meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his efforts have yet to yield a settlement.

Tensions escalated last week after the leak of 28 US draft peace proposals, which alarmed officials in Kyiv and across Europe.

Critics said the document conceded to several of Moscow’s core demands, including curbs on Nato, recognition of Russian control over roughly a fifth of Ukraine, and limits on Ukraine’s military.

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In response, European governments produced a counter-proposal.

Following talks in Geneva, the United States and Ukraine announced they had crafted an “updated and refined peace framework” aimed at ending the war.

Putin on Tuesday accused European capitals of trying to sabotage the diplomatic process by introducing terms they knew Moscow would reject.

Putin accuses Europeans of blocking peace

“They are on the side of war,” Putin said of European powers.

“We can clearly see that all these changes are aimed at only one thing: to block the entire peace process altogether, to make such demands which are absolutely unacceptable to Russia,” he added

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He warned that if Europe chose to enter a conflict with Russia, “it would end so swiftly for Europe that there would be no one to negotiate with in Europe.”

Putin also threatened to cut Ukraine off from the sea in retaliation for recent drone attacks on tankers belonging to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” operating in the Black Sea.

As Putin made the remarks, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were seen walking across Red Square with Kremlin investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

Witkoff and Kushner were expected to meet Putin later in the day.

Speaking in Dublin, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the outcome of the Moscow meetings would be crucial.

“There will be no easy solutions… It is important that everything is fair and open, so that there are no games behind Ukraine’s back,” Reuters quoted Zelenskyy as saying.

 ‘Basis for future agreements’

Putin, who ordered troops into Ukraine nearly four years ago, has said the discussions so far are not about a draft agreement but about a set of proposals that he said last week “could be the basis for future agreements”.

Putin has said he is ready to talk peace but that if Ukraine refuses an agreement, then Russia’s forces will advance further and take more Ukrainian territory.

A Russian source said the Trump administration’s attempts to find peace represented the best chance to end the war since talks with Kyiv broke down shortly after Moscow’s 2022 invasion.

Conflict first erupted in eastern Ukraine in 2014 after a pro-Russian president was toppled in Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution. Russia annexed Crimea and Moscow-backed separatists battled Kyiv’s armed forces in eastern Ukraine.

Russian forces now control more than 19% of Ukraine, or 115,600 square km (45,000 square miles), up only one percentage point from two years ago, though they have advanced in 2025 at the fastest pace since 2022, according to pro-Ukrainian maps.

Russia says it has captured eastern city of pokrovsk

Putin, in video footage released on the eve of Witkoff’s visit, hailed what his commanders said was Russia’s capture of the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine as an important victory after a prolonged campaign.

Ukraine’s military told Reuters that its forces were still holding the northern part of the city and had attacked Russian forces in southern Pokrovsk.

U.S. officials have put the casualty toll in the war at more than 1.2 million killed or wounded. Neither Ukraine nor Russia discloses their losses. The conflict has also caused widespread destruction in Ukrainian towns and cities and forced many people from their homes.

Since the U.S. draft proposals emerged late last month, European powers have been trying to bolster Ukraine against what they see as a punitive pro-Russian peace deal that could open up Russia to U.S. investment in oil, gas and rare earths and return Moscow to the G8.

Key Russian demands include a pledge that Ukraine would never join NATO, caps on the Ukrainian army, Russian control of the whole of Donbas, recognition of Russian control of the regions of Crimea, Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, and protection for Russian speakers in Ukraine.

Ukraine says these would amount to capitulation, and leave it vulnerable to eventual Russian conquest, though Washington has also floated a 10-year security guarantee for Kyiv.

Witkoff, Kushner, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security council, for talks on Sunday near Miami.

Ukraine and European powers see the war as an imperial-style land grab by Moscow and have warned that if Russia wins, then it will one day attack Nato members. Zelenskiy says Russia must not be rewarded for a war it started.

Russia has denied any plans to attack Nato, as it denied any plan to attack Ukraine before its full-scale invasion.

With inputs from agencies