Putin: 'If Europe Wants to Fight ... We Are Ready'

Vladimir Putin will be meeting with US envoy Steve Witkoff Tuesday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, but the Russian leader didn't sound like he was in a pacifist mood ahead of the session. While speaking with reporters, Putin criticized European involvement in the talks and said Europe's demands were "not acceptable" to him, reports the BBC. Asked about comments by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto that Europe was prepping for a war against Russia, Putin responded:

• "We are not going to fight with Europe, I have already said this a hundred times. But if Europe wants to fight with us, we are ready to do so right now."
• Putin also said that if such a war were to break out, Russia would win so quickly that no European negotiators would be left, per Reuters.

The details of what Witkoff and Putin will discuss remained under wraps. Among other things, Ukraine's allies in Europe have been pushing for strong security guarantees to ensure that Russia would not be able to invade again in the aftermath of any peace deal. In his comments Tuesday, Putin suggested what's happening in Ukraine isn't a full-blown war, but is more "surgical" in nature on Moscow's part. "That's not war in the real, in the modern sense of that word."