Putin says West torpedoed 2022 Russia-Ukraine peace talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin has alternated threats of a new Russian offensive to grab more Ukrainian land with statements about the Kremlin's readiness for peace talks.

Speaking during a far-ranging meeting with Russian military correspondents and war bloggers on Tuesday, he made some of the most extensive comments about the conflict and his goals since sending the troops into Ukraine more than 15 months ago.

The Russian leader said ending the hostilities in Ukraine depends on the United States.

He argued that the fighting would end immediately if the US and NATO stop providing Ukraine with weapons.

"If they want to see a negotiated solution to the conflict, it’s enough for them to stop weapons supplies," he said.

Putin said Russian and Ukrainian negotiators drafted a peace agreement in March 2022, but Kiev spiked the deal under Western pressure.

He said Russia is still open to resuming talks.

He said the US wants to see Russia defeated and was pinning its hopes on the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

At the same time, Putin argued that in the US administration "there are many reasonable people who don't want to take it all the way to World War III in which there will be no winners."

Putin asserted that Ukraine has suffered "catastrophic" losses in its counteroffensive.

He said Ukrainian troops amassed reserves to launch the "large-scale" operation on June 4, but he claimed that the effort has failed to score gains and that Ukraine has lost 10 times more soldiers than Russia.

Putin declared that Ukraine lost 160 battle tanks and over 300 other armoured vehicles, while Russia only lost 54 tanks.

He alleged that the Ukrainian armour losses represented 25 percent to 30 percent of the number of Western armoured vehicles supplied to Ukraine.

He noted with a smirk that German-made Leopard battle tanks and US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles "are burning really well," adding that leaders in Kiev must now realise the disastrous consequences of the counteroffensive.

Russia's 'sanitary zone'

Putin said Moscow could respond to Ukrainian incursions and shelling of Russia's border regions by carving out what he described as a "sanitary zone" to prevent Kiev from launching such attacks.

The zone would extend "to a depth that would prevent it from striking our territory," he added.

Asked how deep into Ukraine Russia could go, Putin responded coyly, saying that "everything will depend on potentials that emerge after the so-called counteroffensive."

"We will look at the situation and decide on our next moves," he said. "We have various plans depending on the situation."

Black Sea grain deal

Putin said Moscow was considering ending its participation in the deal to allow exports of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports.

Putin charged that Western countries have failed to fulfil their promises to facilitate exports of Russian agricultural products by removing restrictions on shipping, insurance and banking operations that were part of the agreement brokered by Türkiye and the UN in July 2022.

He claimed that Ukraine also has used the sea corridor created under the deal for commercial ships to launch drones to attack Russian navy ships.

Putin argued that Russia signed the deal and extended it several times for the sake of helping some of the world’s poorest countries.

If Moscow decides to opt out of the agreement, he noted, it would freely supply those countries with the same amount of grain that Ukraine would have delivered under the deal.