Putin warns Europe against war as he meets Trump envoys to discuss Ukraine peace proposal

Russian President tells Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Kremlin that Europe's amendments to plan are unacceptable

Russian President Vladimir Putin told top US officials on Tuesday that amendments suggested by European countries to a plan to end the war in Ukraine were “unacceptable”.

Mr Putin warned Europe it would face swift defeat ​if it ever went to war with Russia, and accused Ukraine's allies of sabotaging US-led efforts to end the nearly four-year war.

“They don’t have a peace agenda, they’re on the side of the war,” he said of the Europeans before talks in the Kremlin with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

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Mr Putin's accusations appeared to be his latest attempt to sow dissension between US President Donald Trump and European countries, and set the stage for exempting Moscow from blame for any lack of progress in ending the war.

He accused Europe of amending peace proposals with “demands that are absolutely unacceptable to Russia", and “blocking the entire peace process” and blaming Moscow for it.

Mr Trump has said he wants to end Europe's ‌deadliest conflict since the Second World War but his efforts so far, including a summit with Mr Putin in Alaska in August and meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have not yet brought peace.

The meeting in Moscow lasted several hours. The Kremlin said late on Tuesday that "no compromise" had been reached yet on the key question of territory in Ukraine.

"So far we haven't found a compromise but some American solutions can be discussed," top Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said in answer to a question about occupied Ukrainian territories.

"The conversation was very useful and constructive," but "a lot of work lies ahead both in Washington in Moscow".

Servicemen carry the coffin of volunteer soldier Yukhym Agafontsev, 22, killed in a battle with Russian troops, during a farewell ceremony in Kyiv on Tuesday. AP

A leaked set of 28-point draft peace proposals emerged last week, alarming Ukrainian and European officials who said it bowed to Moscow's main demands on Nato, which were Russian control of a fifth of Ukraine and restrictions on Ukraine's army.

Under the plan, Moscow and the US demanded significant concessions from Ukraine, including recognising Russian as an official state language and giving up its stockpile of American weapons, as well as all of the Donbas region.

European powers then came up with a proposal for peace and at talks in Geneva, the US and Ukraine said they had created an “updated and refined peace framework” to end the war.

But Mr Putin said Europe had locked ‌itself out of the peace talks and was now seeking to undermine Mr Trump's efforts.

“If Europe suddenly wants ⁠to start a war with us and starts it, a situation could very quickly arise in which there would be no one left for us to negotiate with,” Mr Putin said, adding that he did not want war with Europe.

Mr Putin also threatened to block Ukraine's access to the sea in response to drone attacks on tankers of Russia's “shadow fleet” in the Black Sea.

Mr Zelenskyy, speaking in Dublin, said everything would depend on the talks in Moscow.

“There will be no easy solutions … it is important that everything is fair and open, so that there are no games behind Ukraine's back,” he said.