Ukraine sparingly uses Western-made missiles, including UK Storm Shadow missiles, to strike inside Russia, but the weapons are vital in their defence as they continue to face Russian strikes.

Vladimir Putin has made the startling claim that the West is responsible for the conflict in Ukraine.

The Russian dictator said he was doing all he could to stop the war despite continuing to launch missile and drone strikes on civilians.

He also claimed Western people were friendly to him and Russia.

His comments came during a visit to secret closed nuclear city Sarov – the birthplace of the Soviet atomic bomb – on Friday.

Putin said: ‘Of course, there is propaganda working there [in the West], brainwashing people and claiming that we started the war.

The West and Kyiv were ‘forgetting that it was they [Ukraine] who started it in 2014 when they used tanks and aviation against the peaceful population of Donbas.

‘That is when the war began, and we are doing everything to stop it.’

It comes a week after Putin met with US president Donald Trump to trash out peace talks in Alaska.

Peace talks have stalled but it raised the hopes of Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky meeting face-to-face for the first time since 2019.

In another incredible claim, Putin himself stopped military commanders from taking out Zelensky last year, according to one of his closest allies.

Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko, who once described the Russian leader as his ‘elder brother’, says Putin forbade plans to strike the headquarters of the Ukrainian presidency in Bankova area of Kyiv.

It came after the Russian doomsday missile system Oreshnik was tested without live warheads in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024.

It sparked the plot to target Zelensky’s bunker and the heart of the government, according to Lukashenko, but Putin had other ideas.

He said: ‘After they struck with the Oreshnik, the Ukrainians realised: trouble’.

‘They can also hit Bankova. Insider information for you. Somone in Russia had such plans – (I will not name them).

‘Putin said: “Under no circumstances”.

‘They were ready to strike.

‘If they had fired the Oreshnik at the centres of decision-making, there would have been nothing left there’.

‘There are two choices: war or peace, and if there is no peace, then there is more war’

Switzerland has emerged as the likely contender to host the meeting between Zelensky and Putin (Picture: Getty)

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‘Everyone is happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine’.

‘Of course, as soon as I walk out the door, there’ll probably be a new war starting, and I’ll get that stopped too’

‘Look, I like it!’

‘There are no words.’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders rushed to the White House three days after the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.

It comes after the Alaska summit on Friday in which Putin and Trump failed to make a deal.

This time, the Ukrainian leader has made the guest list.

Vladimir Putin’s twitching legs as he bade farewell to Donald Trump after their Alaska summit have reignited rumours over his health.

Ukraine didn’t even get an invite.

‘We’ll see if they get along.’

Trump has said that he wants to arrange a historic sit-down between the two warring leaders

A high-stakes summit aims to find a resolution to the three-and-a-half year war in Ukraine.

The meeting comes a day before the high-stakes meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

US President Donald Trump had a call with European leaders two days before his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The White House also revealed that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will meet in Anchorage.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will meet in Alaska on Friday – but Zelensky has been snubbed from the summit (Picture: Metro)

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Donald Trump believes a summit next week could help bring the Ukraine war to an end.

Donald Trump believes a summit next week could help bring the Ukraine war to an end.

The Russian onslaught employed 400 drones.