Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Ukraine was committing"piracy" with its tanker attacks in the Black Sea, saying,"In response to the attacks on tankers, Russia will expand its attacks on Ukrainian ports and ships entering these ports." Putin spoke to reporters in Moscow before his meeting with US President Donald Trump's Special Representative Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Criticizing Ukraine's attacks on tankers in the Black Sea, Putin said,"Attacks on tankers become piracy when they are carried out not in international waters, but in the exclusive economic zone of another state, a third state."

Putin emphasized that Russia would respond to the attacks, saying,"In response to the attacks on tankers, Russia will expand its attacks on Ukrainian ports and ships entering these ports. If the attacks continue, we will consider the possibility of retaliatory measures against ships of countries that assist Ukraine in carrying out these piracy operations."

Vladimir Putin stated that the Ukrainian administration and those "standing behind it" should review the attacks, saying,"The most radical method would be to cut off Ukraine's connection to the sea, preventing it from engaging in piracy. However, this would be a step that escalates the process."

"EUROPE EXCLUDED ITSELF IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH UKRAINE"

Putin stated that Europe had excluded itself from the negotiations with Ukraine, and also pointed out that Europe had broken off contact with Russia on its own initiative. He noted that Europe had embraced the idea of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia and apparently continued to live with these illusions, but added that they understood that such a thing was rationally impossible.

On the other hand, Putin noted that Europe was trying to obstruct US President Donald Trump's peace process, adding that Europe had no"peace agenda" and was in favor of war.

"Even when they try to make some changes to Trump's proposals, we clearly see that all these changes are aimed at one goal: to obstruct the entire peace process and put forward demands that are absolutely unacceptable to Russia," Putin said.

"IF EUROPE WANTS TO GO TO WAR WITH RUSSIA, WE ARE READY"

Regarding the statements that the European part of NATO is preparing for war with Russia, Putin made the following assessment:

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"We have no intention of going to war with Europe. I've said this hundreds of times. But if Europe wants to go to war with us and starts a war, we are ready immediately. There's no doubt about that. If Europe suddenly goes to war with us, I think it will happen very quickly. It won't be like Ukraine. We are conducting a surgical operation on Ukraine and we are being careful. This isn't a war in the modern sense. If Europe suddenly wants to go to war with us and starts a war, we could very quickly find a situation where we have no one to negotiate with."

Putin stated that foreign and Ukrainian press members who have doubts about the capture of the city of Krasnoarmeysk by the Russian army could be given the right to visit the city, so that it could be seen who is under control of the city.

Putin also added that they could take the settlement called Kupyansk-Uzlovaya within a few days.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US President Donald Trump's Special Representative Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner to discuss the Ukraine situation. A video released by the Kremlin shows Putin receiving Witkoff and Kushner at the Kremlin Palace.

Present at the meeting from the Russian side were Kremlin Foreign Policy Advisor Yuriy Ushakov and Russian President Putin's special representative for international economic cooperation, Kiril Dmitriyev. Putin was seen chatting with Witkoff about Moscow at the beginning of the meeting. The meeting continued behind closed doors.

Regarding Witkoff's visit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said,"They (the US side) worked very intensively with the Ukrainian side for several weeks and, so to speak, prepared a version of Trump's solution plan. We have no doubt that this will be a very important step towards peace, towards a peaceful solution."