Putin claims Ukraine started war with support from Western countries

That is according to the Telegram channel Agentstvo, Ukrinform reports.

"President Trump has a peace deal on the table. Ukraine is offering enormous compromises, yet you continue to talk about war. If you reject President Trump's peace offer, will you be responsible for the deaths of Ukrainians and Russians in 2026?" NBC News journalist Keir Simmons asked Putin.

In response, the Russian leader once again repeated his claim that "the war began after a coup in Ukraine, an unconstitutional armed coup in 2014, followed by the start of hostilities by the leaders of the Kyiv regime against their own citizens in southeastern Ukraine."

"We do not consider ourselves responsible for the deaths of people, because we did not start this war. And after we were deceived and the Minsk agreements were not implemented, we were forced to use the Armed Forces to bring an end to the war that was launched by the Kyiv regime with the support of Western countries," he said.

Putin also said he believes that U.S. President Donald Trump is making "serious efforts to end this conflict."

"I have said many times: in my opinion, he is doing so quite sincerely. Moreover, at a meeting with President Trump in Anchorage, we practically agreed with President Trump's proposals. Therefore, it is absolutely incorrect and groundless to say that we are rejecting anything. At previous meetings in Moscow, proposals were made to us and we were asked to make certain compromises. When I arrived in Anchorage, I said that these would be difficult decisions for us, but that we agreed to the proposed compromises. So to say that we are rejecting something is absolutely incorrect and has no basis whatsoever," Putin said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov recently said that Russia had a negative attitude toward the proposal of a Christmas ceasefire.