Reports are beginning to surface about Russian President Vladimir Putin saying the end to the special military operation in Ukraine is close.  I am embedding the full press conference video below as only part of his remarks has been translated and transcribed.

President Putin is asked for his overall impressions of the Victory Day events, and the context of the ceasefire against the backdrop of a request by U.S. President Donald Trump.  As with most things Russian, the nuance is often between the lines.

[RU Transcript] – “President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good evening. Happy holiday once again, happy Victory Day.

Question: Let me start with today and the way you view it, if I may. Today is a great and momentous day. Earlier, US President Donald Trump came up with an initiative to declare a three-day ceasefire. You supported it, so did Zelensky. However, on the eve of May 9, there were still a number of grave and provocative statements coming from Kiev.

How would you assess today and the way events unfolded? Even the military parade was held in a somewhat reduced format due to security concerns. Could you share your overall assessment of the day? Were there any provocations?

Vladimir Putin: As for provocations, as you can see, I am here, and so far, the Defence Ministry has not reported anything of that nature to me, so I cannot comment on it.

Regarding the parade. You know that this year – which is not an anniversary year but nevertheless it is Victory Day – we decided that the celebrations would go ahead in any case but without a display of military hardware, and not for security concerns but primarily because the Armed Forces should focus on the decisive defeat of the enemy within the framework of the special military operation.”

“As for the provocative statements, all of those decisions had been made much earlier than all those provocative statements were issued, as you said.

As for the statements, we have responded to them, as you know. The Defence Ministry issued a certain initial statement – it is well known – that in case an attempt were made to disrupt our celebration events, we will respond with massive missile strikes on Kiev. Was there anything unclear about it? This is what was intended to be a response.

We did not limit ourselves to it. It was followed by a Foreign Ministry’s note, which is an official document, not just a declaration. But we did not stop there. We started working with our major partners and friends, primarily with our friends from the People’s Republic of China, India and some other nations, including with the US administration. What did this work involve? We simply presented our friends, colleagues, and partners with a picture of what the situation could develop into. We have no desire to worsen or damage relations with anyone. Such a situation could arise given that all the command and decision-making centres in Kiev are located in close proximity to the diplomatic missions of a number of countries – several dozen, in fact. That is precisely the issue. When we began this dialogue with the US administration, we drew their attention to this matter, outlined the potential consequences, and asked them to do everything necessary to ensure the security of their country’s diplomatic mission.

As a result of all these discussions, US President Donald Trump proposed an additional two-day ceasefire and a prisoner exchange during that period.

We immediately agreed to this proposal, particularly because, in my view, it was fully justified, motivated by respect for our shared victory over Nazism, and clearly humanitarian in nature.

By the way, a few days earlier, on May 5, we had also submitted a proposal for a prisoner exchange to the Ukrainian side and provided a list of 500 Ukrainian servicemen held in Russia. The initial response was that they needed to review the proposal more carefully – perhaps not all 500, but maybe 200 – and after that they effectively disappeared from contact and later stated directly that they were not prepared for such an exchange. They did not want it.

Therefore, when the proposal from US President Donald Trump was put forward, we, of course, immediately supported it. We hope that, in this case, the Ukrainian side will ultimately respond positively to the proposal of the US President. Unfortunately, so far, we have not received any response.”

Transcript to be continued.

First, Ukraine was/is apparently worried that returning prisoners may not be in alliance with Ukraine’s war effort.  Second, it appears the diplomatic warning provided by President Putin to President Trump was the impetus for Trump suggesting an extended ceasefire.  Third, from the way Putin is describing U.S. and Trump contact, it is reasonable to infer the lines of communication are very open.

[You can use the closed captioning option to review the full remarks if you want to get ahead of the transcript release.]