Putin says Russia is ready for war if Europe wants it

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Russian leader says European demands for Ukraine peace deal are ‘absolutely unacceptable’

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President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is ready to fight a war with Europe if it is provoked in his latest threat against the West.

The Russian leader said that he did not want a war with European powers but if they did, Russia was ready right now to fight.

He accused Europe of making demands on a possible peace settlement for Ukraine, which Russia finds absolutely unacceptable.

The comments come at the plenary session of the VTB Russia Calling Investment forum in Moscow on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff landed in Moscow earlier in the day to negotiate the terms of a possible peace deal with Russia.

The visit follows a flurry of diplomatic activity in the past fortnight involving US, Ukrainian, European and Russian officials.

Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky revealed on Tuesday that the US and Ukraine have agreed on a new 20-point peace deal, as talks between Witkoff and Putin began in the Kremlin.

The Ukrainian president said that the original 28-point roadmap proposed by the US last month had been reworked into a new agreement following discussions between officials.

"Some things still need to be worked out," he told reporters on a visit to Dublin, adding that this marked "one of the most challenging and yet optimistic moments at the same time" for peace in Ukraine.

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