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<\/p>\nRussian President Vladimir Putin suggested the war in Ukraine was drawing to a close \u2014 just hours after he vowed to triumph at Moscow\u2019s puniest Victory Day parade in years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the matter is coming to an end,\u201d Putin told reporters inside the Kremlin Saturday about the four-year-long war.<\/p>\n
Putin said the United States \u2014 which he referred to as a \u201cpartner\u201d and \u201cfriend\u201d during his remarks, alongside the likes of China and India \u2014 was eager to help broker a deal.<\/p>\n
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Russian President Vladimir Putin says he believes the Ukraine war is close to ending. POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly, they have no need for this conflict, as they have many other priorities,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this is, first and foremost, a matter for Russia and Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The strongman said he would be willing to sit-down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a neutral country, but only once final agreements to end the war have been reached.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis must be the final step, not some negotiations,\u201d Putin said, according to state-run\u00a0TASS news agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI have never refused\u201d to meet Zelensky, he claimed.\u00a0\u201cI am not proposing this meeting, but if someone proposes it, then let them come. Whoever wants to meet should come to Moscow, and we will meet.\u201d<\/p>\n He lashed out at \u201cglobalist\u201d Western leaders, saying they pledged after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 that NATO would not expand eastward \u2014 only to later pull Ukraine toward their orbit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n