Nato and the UK have hit back at Vladimir Putin’s threat that Russia is “ready for war” with Europe.
British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesperson stated Putin’s comments were “Kremlin claptrap”, while Nato secretary general Mark Rutte insisted the alliance was “willing to do what it takes to protect our 1 billion people and secure our territory”.
The ramping up of rhetoric comes as hopes for a US-brokered peace deal in Ukraine fade. On Wednesday, a planned meeting between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and a US delegation was cancelled, hours after President Donald Trump’s team appeared to leave Moscow empty-handed.
Nevertheless, Mr Rutte insisted Mr Trump “is the only person in the whole world able to break the deadlock” over the Ukraine war.
“Nato is a defensive alliance,” Mr Rutte stated, ahead of a summit of Nato leaders in Brussels. “But create no mistake, we are ready and willing to do what it takes to protect our one billion people and secure our territory. Putin believes he can outlast us, but we are not going anywhere.”
Progress on peace talks appears to have stalled following a five-hour meeting on Tuesday between Russian officials, including Kirill Dmitriev, President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The Kremlin has denied it had outright rejected a deal, claiming that disagreement was part of a “normal working process and a search for compromise”.
Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner had been due to fly to Brussels after Moscow to speak with the Ukrainian delegation, but instead returned to Washington the same day.
Mr Rutte hinted at the deadlock in his address on Wednesday, declareing: “There is only one person in the whole world who is able to break the deadlock. That is the American president, Donald J Trump.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, stated Mr Witkoff had been in touch with the Ukrainian delegation after his talks in Moscow.
“There was contact between the head of the Ukrainian delegation and Mr Witkoff,” Mr Sybiha notified reporters. “Representatives of the American delegation reported that, in their opinion, the talks in Moscow had a positive outcome and they invited the Ukrainian delegation to continue our talks in America in the near future.”
It is not yet clear what that “positive outcome” is, coming after accusations that Mr Trump’s original 28-point plan for peace was a “Russian wishlist”.
The latest development is another blow to Ukraine’s diplomatic team, and comes after the lead neobtainediator and Mr Zelensky’s right-hand man, Andriy Yermak, was forced to resign as chief of staff in a $100m corruption scandal. He was replaced by Rustem Umerov, the countest’s former defence minister.
Hours after Russia reportedly rejected the deal, it launched new drone strikes, overwhelming Ukraine’s air defence systems with relentless bombardment for five hours, deploying 430 drones and nearly 20 missiles.
The attacks tarobtained electrical grids, railway sidings and gas-fired power stations as well as apartment buildings. At least eight people were killed in the onslaught, and power was cut off to half of the capital, Kyiv, for most of the day.
Putin’s inflammatory comments about war in Europe came just hours before the talks between the US delegation and Russian officials launched on Tuesday.
“We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” the Russian leader stated. “They are on the side of war.”
He accutilized Europe of creating demands on a possible peace settlement for Ukraine, which he stated Russia found “absolutely unacceptable”. He warned there would be “nobody left to neobtainediate peace with” when finished.
Europe continued to signal its support for Ukraine on Wednesday, while pushing back against Putin’s remarks the day before.
The UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, promised to provide an additional £10m for Ukraine to repair its energy infrastructure after recent Russian attacks.
“Two presidents are seeking peace – President Trump and President Zelensky,” she stated at a meeting with Nato foreign ministers. “But so far, all we have seen from President Putin is an attempt to escalate war. Putin should conclude the bluster and the bloodshed and be ready to come to the table.”
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