Putin warns Europe: if you want war, then Russia will defeat you • FRANCE 24 English

We’re going to get more on this story now with our international affairs editor, Philip Tur. Philillip, Putin then seeming to take quite a firm stance before this meeting. What does that mean for these talks? It’s interesting, Caris, to read between the lines here because of all the hype and the buildup to these talks taking place later today between Steve Witkoff uh the US special envoy and Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin and all this hope that we could be on the verge of a breakthrough in trying to find a solution to end the war in Ukraine. all of this we don’t really know what is going to be discussed between uh the two men later on or the three men if Jared Kushner Donald Trump’s son-in-law is also there uh and even today Vladimir Zalinsky said that he didn’t want to talk about the points on the agenda until after the meeting was over depending on what came out of those talks which were expecting in the next few hours. So looking at what Vladimir Putin is saying right now, this is pushing the bar pretty high and trying to squeeze the Europeans out of the picture basically with what he’s been commenting on, saying Europe is hindering Donald Trump’s attempt to end the war by putting forward proposals they knew that would be unacceptable to the Russians. Uh they’ve locked themselves out of peace talks by cutting contact with Moscow. Um the Europeans are seeking demands that are unacceptable. Well, if Europe wants to fight a war, we are ready now. They do not have a peaceful agenda. They’re on the side of war and we will increase strikes on facilities uh in Ukraine and on Ukrainian vessels and on other foreign vessels that are trying to help Ukraine. So all of that is pretty threatening, pretty menacing coming out of the mouth of of Vladimir Putin, which leads one to pose the question, what is going to happen tonight during these talks with this amended version of the 28 point peace proposal that was rejected by Ukraine just about a week ago and which has been uh re- uh written with the help of the Europeans and with the Ukrainians and the Americans. So uh does that mean that the proposals put forward by the Europeans that Emanuel Macron said uh had been uh more positive that Vameir Zinsky says are more positive? Uh he’s in Ireland addressing the Irish parliament right now. Uh he thinks that maybe we have got the chance of moving forward with this. Is that already a no from Vladimir Putin even before these talks take place so as not to uh keep people waiting or to say pretty much well if you don’t give us the plan that we agreed to originally we’re not going to accept any amended version of that 28 point peace proposal uh that was put forward just over a week ago. You mentioned Vadom Zalinsky in Ireland there. How’s he getting on with his demands for the Europeans? Well, it’s extremely tough because he’s on all fronts right now. If you understand what Vladimir Zalinsky goes through, he’s under constant threat of being assassinated. Obviously, we know that Vladimir Putin would like him out of the way. He’s trying hard to bring countries on board who wouldn’t necessarily want to come in and help with the war effort in Ukraine. He’s he’s suffering from Russian advances on the front line. Uh thousands of of Russian uh of Ukrainian troops being killed and also problems trying to get people to come and fight in Ukraine. So all of these problems he has to deal with on a daily basis plus traveling around the world trying to garner support from other countries. He was in France yesterday, he’s in Ireland this afternoon. Uh what Vladimir Zalinski is looking for here in Europe uh is basically two things. The first one is the coalition of the willing uh and reassurances that once uh the war in Ukraine is finally over and there is a peace deal that Europe will move in to prevent Russia from coming back to start the war all over again like it did after signing the Minsk protocol. Uh so that’s the first point and he wants Europe to also uh bring in the United States to back with air power uh the European troops maybe British and French troops on the ground in Ukraine uh as a peacekeeping force to prevent the the Russians from coming back. And the second thing that Vladimir Zalinsky wants is money uh in the form of these frozen Russian assets which are being held by the European Union in a Belgian bank. Belgium doesn’t want that money to be handed over because it fears that it would be breaking the law. uh other countries say they would be quite happy to hand over the interest which is generated from that money. Uh still other European countries say they should hand all the money over uh to Ukraine in the form of about 100 to 20 $130 billion. So there is no agreement amongst Europe about what to do and Vote Zinsky making the case that Ukraine would really desperately need that money in order to have a chance of winning the war against the Russians. All right, Philip T, thank you very much for your analysis.

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday warned European powers that if they started a war with Russia then Moscow was ready to fight and that the defeat of European powers would be so absolute that there would be no one left to even negotiate a peace deal.Four years into the Ukraine war, the deadliest European conflict in Europe since World War Two, Russia has failed to conquer Ukraine, a much smaller neighbour which has been supported by European powers and the United States.France24 International Affairs editor Philip Turle explains.
#Putin #Europe #Russia

🔔 Subscribe to France 24 now: https://f24.my/YTen
🔴 LIVE – Watch FRANCE 24 English 24/7 here: https://f24.my/YTliveEN

🌍 Read the latest International News and Top Stories: https://www.france24.com/en/

Like us on Facebook: https://f24.my/FBen
Follow us on X: https://f24.my/Xen
Bluesky: https://f24.my/BSen and Threads: https://f24.my/THen
Browse the news in pictures on Instagram: https://f24.my/IGen
Discover our TikTok videos: https://f24.my/TKen
Get the latest top stories on Telegram: https://f24.my/TGen

22 comments

  1. China was right again Putin will make his own country rusty from outside in .Inside out if the war goes on. NATO PATIENT CLEVER SMART

  2. If a real war breaks out in Europe, many countries will support Russia. I know for sure: if fighting starts, our country will be the first to help 🤣🤣🤣

    1. It seems they don’t understand how many Asian countries are actually waiting for Europe to collapse.
    2. If Europe goes to war, that will be a REAL war and it will benefit us a lot! What’s happening with Ukraine now is just a small armed conflict — it’s not useful at all.

  5. So, he believes, that he can defeat Europe? My answer: he probably can defeat Europe with one condition – when Europe underestimates the threat. Russian Army is corrupted, but not weak. Russian Intelligence also corrupted, but also not weak. When he fails, he always camouflaged his mistakes with bluffing (atomic blackmail etc.). What am I trying to say? Just continue support Ukraine, that's all.

  6. Europeans, we are waiting for your trans boys from your army in Ukraine. Why are you afraid to send troops to fight against Russia? I know that Europe is a coward.

  8. he is a crook…measure the distance between his eyes…less that 2 mm means he will shoot you when youre not paying attention…he is measurind 1 mm

  10. I see in this comment sections many donkeys with Napoleon complex thinking they can do better than H!tler and Napoleon.
    You sent your best weapons in Ukraine and still can't stop Russia from advancing, lol
    You're ridiculous, you might have already collapsed if it weren't for USA, but don't worry because China will deal with the latter. 😘

  12. What happened to him? Obsessed with Power? I remember that there was a time I thought that guy choose to make this world safe. I invested hopes on him. But he decided to turn it upside down and simply wants to burn it. What a disaster he caused. What a disaster. For all of us, first of all Ukrainian people, then the mothers of the war childs and the disappeared of course even in Russia. Having to fight because of his anger thousands of kilometers away from home. Stupid. Sad . Oh my, poor world. Who wants to live forever?

  21. Обиделись коментаторы франция известна тем что в первый месяц сдает свою страну жалкие и трусливые😂😂

  22. But he has had a hard time taking Ukraine… He would go bankrupt trying take whole of Europe… Unless he starting using nukes but then it's game over for everyone then including him

Comments are closed.