Attempts to secure a peace deal between the US and Russia over Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine have failed, with the Russian president saying his country was 'ready' for war with Europe.
It will soon be four years since Putin launched his 'special military operation' that was meant to last three days, with him instead instigating the largest conflict in Europe since Adolf Hitler began the Second World War.
Yesterday (2 December), Russian and American officials met in Moscow but after hours of talks ended up 'neither further nor closer to resolving the crisis in Ukraine'.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy advisor, said that the countries were 'not further, that's for sure' from hashing out the details of a peace plan which the Russians could accept, but the deal in its current form was not something they would say yes to.
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"Some of the American proposals seem more or less acceptable, but they need to be discussed. Some of the wording that was proposed doesn't suit us. So the work will continue," Ushakov said.
Another Russian figure called the talks 'constructive, very useful and substantive', so the stage is set for further discussions rather than an outright breakdown in talks.
Donald Trump's peace plan for the Russian invasion of Ukraine was unlikely to get much support from the Ukrainians either, since the initial leaked version proposed territorial concessions to Russia and would essentially have been a Ukrainian capitulation to Russia, though Trump said it was not his 'final offer'.
Getting a peace plan both the Russians and Ukrainians could agree to seems a remote prospect, since Russia wants Ukrainian territory and Ukraine does not want to give up territory to the invading nation.
Meanwhile, Putin yesterday accused Europe of being 'on the side of war', a statement which holds little value when it comes from the mouth of a person who started a war which has left thousands dead and millions displaced from their homes.
He added that Europe was 'preventing the US administration from achieving peace on Ukraine', though he failed to explain which parts of Trump's peace plan that met with Russian approval had failed to gain the support of the rest of the continent.
Putin insisted he was 'not planning to go to war with Europe', which would be quite convenient for him since his army is more than three years into their three-day invasion of one country so quite how he'd handle being at war with an entire continent is a possibility best not explored since that situation would essentially be WW3.
"But if Europe suddenly wants to fight us and starts, we're ready right now. There can be no doubt about that," he said.
"If Europe suddenly wants to start a war with us and does, then a situation could very quickly arise in which we have no one to negotiate with."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was 'awaiting signals' from the US delegation after their meeting in Moscow, having said that the revised American peace plan 'looks better' but work on it was 'not over yet'.
Zelenskyy is seeking security guarantees that would mean Russia cannot just use a peace deal to rebuild its military stockpiles and then launch another invasion for the rest of what they want later on.
Topics: Russia, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Europe, US News, Donald Trump, Ukraine, World News
Joe Harker