New Delhi, May 10 -- Vladimir Putin declared on Saturday that the war in Ukraine was approaching its conclusion, while signalling for the first time a willingness to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky outside Russian territory, provided a comprehensive peace agreement had already been reached. The remarks came hours after a scaled-back Victory Day parade in Moscow and on the first day of a US-brokered three-day ceasefire that both sides almost immediately accused each other of violating.

Speaking to reporters following the Victory Day parade on Saturday, Putin said the conflict, now in its fifth year and widely regarded as Europe's deadliest war since the Second World War, was moving towards resolution.

"I think that the matter...