VLADIMIR Putin has said the Ukraine war is “coming to an end” just hours after his humiliating flagship parade.
“I think that the matter is coming to an end,” the Russian tyrant told reporters about the four-year-long war.
It comes after Moscow marked the Soviet victory in World War Two with a scaled back military parade.
The event cut its usual display of tanks and missiles due to fears of a Ukraine attack, instead showing weapons on a series of screens.
During the parade, Putin blasted Nato for its support of Ukraine and vowed to deliver victory in the war.
But just hours later, the reeling dictator took a bizarre U-turn claiming peace was on the horizon.
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The Russian leader said he would sit-down with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky in a neutral country once a deal was agreed to.
He said: “A meeting in a third country is also possible, but only once final agreements have been reached on a peace treaty for a long‑term historical perspective, to take part in this event and sign (treaty), but it must be a final step.”
Zelensky refuses to meet in Moscow, where he could be arrested.
Putin also announced the US was eager to help broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump mediated a three-day ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv last week to reduce the danger of any attack on the parade.
Putin said he was aware Zelensky was ready to hold a meeting but added “this is not the first time we have heard such statements”.
The dictator said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe.
Last week European Council President António Costa said he believed there was “potential” for the EU to negotiate with Russia, and that Zelensky favoured such a move.
Putin requested longstanding friend, Germany’s former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, as his preferred negotiator.
For the first time in almost two decades the Kremlin’s Victory Day Parade in the Red Square was held without military hardware.
Kremlin officials blamed the astonishing cut backs on “terrorist threats” from Ukraine.
The humiliating climb down has been branded as a symbol of Putin’s failure on the front line against Ukraine.
Russia expert Emil Aslan previously told The Sun: “Russia is losing on the ground so there is nothing for the Kremlin to brag about.
“In the past, the Russian military was always assigned to grand tasks expected to be achieved on the eve of the parade.
“This is done to equate Putin’s Russia with Stalin’s USSR and its military success against the Nazi’s.
“None of this is in sight right now.”
The new tone from Putin also follows reports that the paranoid leader has retreated to an underground bunker and ramped up security amid rumours of a coup.
The despot is said to be fearing a drone-led assassination orchestrated by top-ranking Russian officials, reports say.
