(BBC News) President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is willing to fight to achieve all its objectives if Ukraine does not agree to a deal.
He made the remarks in China after attending a huge military parade seen as a challenge to Donald Trump and the US-dominated world order.
The US president has tried to persuade Putin to end the war, but the Russian leader, while praising Trump’s “sincere desire”, has so far not done so.
Visiting Kyiv, UK Defence Secretary John Healey told the BBC Trump had brought Putin to the table, and had not ruled out putting more pressure on him.
Countries including the UK, he said, were willing “to put extra economic pressure on Putin… and to give extra aid to Ukraine so they can keep in the fight.”
Trump pulled Putin out of international isolation last month when he hosted a meeting with him in Alaska.
He also tried to persuade Putin to meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I have never ruled out the possibility of such a meeting. But is there any point? Let’s see,” Putin said on Wednesday.
He added that any such meeting required preparation to yield results, and that Zelensky could always go to Moscow to see him – a “knowingly unacceptable” idea, Ukraine’s foreign minister was quick to point out.
