President Vladimir Putin warned European powers on Tuesday that if they started a war with Russia then Moscow was ready to fight and that the defeat of European powers would be so absolute that there would be no one left to even negotiate a peace deal.

Almost four years into the war in Ukraine, the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, Russia has failed to conquer the country, a much smaller neighbour which has been supported by European powers and the United States.

Ukraine and European powers have repeatedly warned that if Putin wins the Ukraine war then he could attack a NATO member, a claim which Putin has repeatedly dismissed as nonsense.

Asked by a reporter about remarks in the Russian media that Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto had cautioned that Europe was preparing a war against Russia, Putin said that Russia did not want a war with Europe.

“If Europe suddenly wants to start a war with us and starts it,” Putin said, then it would end so swiftly for Europe that Russia would have no one left to negotiate with. Putin used the Russian word for “war”.

He also suggested that the war in Ukraine was not a full-blown war and that Russia was acting in a “surgical” manner which would not be repeated in a direct confrontation with European powers.

PUTIN SAYS EUROPE IS HINDERING TRUMP’S PEACE EFFORTS

Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the depths of the Cold War.

U.S. officials say more than 1.2 million Russian and Ukrainian men have been killed in the war. Neither Ukraine nor Russia discloses its losses.

Putin accused European powers of hindering U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempts to end the war in Ukraine by putting forward proposals they knew would be “absolutely unacceptable” to Moscow so they could then accuse Russia of not wanting peace.

Putin said European states had locked themselves out of peace talks on Ukraine by cutting off contacts with Russia, adding: “They are on the side of war.”

Putin also threatened to sever Ukraine’s access to the sea in response to drone attacks on tankers of Russia’s “shadow fleet” in the Black Sea