Vladimir Putin has blown any chance of peace with the US President and an expert has warned that NATO will now have to prepare themselves for conflict.
On Tuesday Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Putin to hold peace talks, but the two US businessmen with no mandate to negotiate peace in a war that has killed hundreds of thousands and threatens the security of Europe, Shaun Pinner wrote.
Putin said in an address to Russia that he has no interest in fighting with Europe, but warned if Europe does start a war we are “ready to fight now.”
Speaking to the Express, Professor Anthony Glees, security expert from the University of Buckingham that Witkoff’s failed negotiations now makes the reality that Putin is ready for all out war with the West.
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Putin warned, “Europe is offering proposals for a peace plan for Ukraine that are unacceptable to Russia.
“Russia has no intention of going to war with European countries, but if Europe starts a war, Russia is ready right now and then Moscow will have nobody to negotiate with.
“Europe has no peace agenda and is now hindering US efforts to resolve the conflict,” Putin added.
NATO has sent the Kremlin leader a major warning, as they have pledged to send $1 billion per month on buying US weapons and ammunition for Ukraine, as the peace talks collapsed.
German news outlet Der Spiegel reported that the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte wants the alliance to purchase vast amounts of weapons for Ukraine.
Rutte said that the plan will see NATO members purchasing $1 billion every month on US weapons for Kyiv.
Prof Glees told the Express, “Putin remains entirely confident he can outsmart Trump all the way to victory over Ukraine.
“This is a desperate worry.
“By sending witless Witkoff and his son in law Jared Kushner Trump has played out his last ditch attempt to convince Putin that he can have his slice of Ukraine – if he lets Trump get that coveted Nobel peace prize.
“But Putin in effect spits in Trump’s face and tells him to go to hell. He’s saying he’ll have his own way, end of story.
“We know that Trump will be offended, even distraught. What more can he do other than compel Ukraine to sacrifice itself?
One way or another, unless we in Europe realise we can’t rely on Trump and we cannot become Putin’s vassals, we will slip into a large-scale conventional war.
We can’t let Putin have a victory. We need to prepare for the consequences of that decision.”
Prof Glees added to the publication, “We know that in a real ‘hybrid’ sense Putin is already at war with us. But this latest grim and sinister threat is, I fear, a new low.
What it shows is that Europe and the UK must redouble their efforts to be ready to confront him, with the aim of deterring Putin from even thinking about attacking us.
“It also suggests to me that the time has now come for NATO to act against Russia , to walk the walk. We’re getting behind the talk stage.”
