“Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield.
Well, what can I say?
Let them try.
We have already heard a lot that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian,” he said.
According to Putin, this is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people.
“But it looks like everything is going to this,” the president added.
In April, EU diplomat Josep Borrell called for a military solution to the Ukrainian crisis.
On April 11, he reaffirmed the EU's desire to resolve the Ukrainian crisis "on the battlefield."
In Moscow, Borrell was offered to "come to the battlefield" after his statements.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also said that negotiations with Russia could be conducted “only after it has been defeated” in Ukraine.
According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the West intends to provoke Kyiv "to fight to the last Ukrainian."