Is Ukraine War Coming to an End? Putin's Comments Dissected

Despite intense media speculation surrounding Vladimir Putin‘s recent comments that the Ukraine war could end soon, a Russia expert told Newsweek the Russian president’s words were taken out of context and that he has not budged from his ultimate war aims.

Amid a temporary three‑day U.S.-brokered ceasefire and after Moscow hosted a scaled back Victory Day parade marking the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany, focus turned to Putin's suggestion that the war, which began in February 2022, was "coming to an end."

But senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, Oleg Ignatov, told Newsweek on Monday that Putin would not back down from his demand Ukraine's troops leave the Donbas region, which is a deal breaker for Kyiv.

Putin's Parade

As Ukrainian drones continue to hit deeper inside Russia, the Kremlin said security fears forced mobile internet restrictions in the capital and no military hardware was displayed in Red Square on Saturday. The watered-down version of Putin's showpiece propaganda event was seen as a sign of a Russian leader on the backfoot as the wartime economy takes its toll on Russians who are becoming more vocal in their criticism of the authorities.

Putin was asked during a press conference after the parade by Rossiya channel's Pavel Zarubin, to whom he often announces his war objectives, about the Western role in Ukrainian attacks far from the border and whether the West had "gone too far" in its backing for Kyiv.

Putin referred to draft peace terms negotiated by Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul just after the start of the full-scale invasion, which included withdrawing troops for Ukraine's pledge not to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

But Putin said that Western leaders did not want to back this and "started escalating the standoff with Russia, which continues to this day."

"I think the matter is coming to an end, but it’s still a serious matter," Putin added.

Russian state media and foreign outlets framed his statement as a suggestion an end to the war was imminent, although he gave no clearer details.

On Sunday, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank, said in an assessment Putin’s comments show the Kremlin is likely playing to its domestic audience who are feeling the effects of the war and Russia's inability to repel Ukrainian long-range strikes.

The ISW also noted how Putin said he intended to allow Russian forces to focus on the final defeat of Ukraine signaling that he is "committed to its maximalist goals for the Ukrainian government's capitulation."

"He said this in a hypothetical manner that yes, this war is also coming to an end. He means that from their point of view, there is a solution on the table if Ukraine accepts this solution," Ignatov told Newsweek. "It will be a ceasefire and this war will come to an end."

But Ukraine has repeatedly rejected withdrawing from the Donbas region, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, that Moscow claims to have annexed but does not fully control and hosts Ukraine's crucial "fortress belt" defenses.

"He wants to continue the negotiations, but he insists that to make this negotiation successful, that Ukraine needs to make this decision," Ignatov added. "I think Putin is ready to continue to negotiate. His position hasn’t changed and he knows what he wants and Ukraine knows also what he wants."

"He wages a war and he wants to negotiate; he’s happy with this tactic. So, if something doesn’t work with negotiations, he can continue to wage war," he said. "If he loses this leverage, he will not get anything and he understands this."

Putin has demanded that any bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky take place in Moscow, suggesting he would not meet his Ukrainian counterpart abroad for talks. The Kremlin, however, has often signaled it did not want to have an immediate bilateral meeting with Zelensky to end the war.

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Economic Turmoil, Dwindling Popularity

Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine has taken a back seat for the Trump administration as it focuses on Iran in the Middle East. With no imminent diplomatic breakthrough between Moscow and Kyiv, small battlefield gains for Russia at a huge cost in troops, Ukrainian drone strikes and a downturn in the economy, social media users in Russia are becoming increasingly strident in their criticism of the Russian authorities even if it is not directed at Putin.

"People’s real incomes have not risen during the war, they’ve fallen, regardless of what the government says," Russian-born economist Konstantin Sonin, a Kremlin critic and a professor at the University of Chicago, told Newsweek.

"The quality of living went down, so what we see in people’s opinions expressed are a reflection that they are living worse than they would have lived if there was no war," he said. "People are unhappy about what is happening and it’s not like that this unhappiness came from nowhere."

With state polling showing a dip in support for Putin, the Dossier Center, an investigative outlet funded by exiled Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky, revealed last week it had uncovered leaked Kremlin proposals to frame a potential negotiated peace in Ukraine as a victory to the Russian public.

One scenario would see Putin's war aims compromised in which Zelensky would remain in office, Russia would keep Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea, but withdraw from the Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts and the front elsewhere would be frozen.

"You must know when to stop. Excess is defeat," the reported document said. Khodorkovsky posted on his Substack that Kremlin propagandists are now being told to frame the war as a "successful" confrontation with the "collective West."

However, there is no certainty Putin would agree to such a plan to end the war, and Ignatov said it was normal that Kremlin officials were looking at all different possibilities.

"They have been thinking about these scenarios since the start of the war, so it's not a surprise," he said.

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This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 12:27 PM.