Putin says peace talks are at ‘a dead end’ and calls atrocities in Bucha ‘fake.’

President Vladimir Putin of Russia said on Tuesday that peace talks with Ukraine had reached a “dead end” and called the evidence of Russian atrocities in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha “fake,” using his first extended remarks about the war in nearly a month to insist that Russia would persist with its invasion.

Speaking at a news conference at a spaceport in Russia’s Far East, Mr. Putin said that Ukraine had changed its position after the round of peace talks held in Istanbul on March 29 to one that was no longer acceptable to the Kremlin. While there were indications that Ukraine had this week again adopted a more constructive stance, he said, Russia’s “military operation will continue until its full completion” and its goals are met.

Those goals, he said, centered on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian and Western officials expect that Russia will soon mount an intense offensive. Read more

@nytimes