Russian President Vladimir Putin told Kyiv on Wednesday there was a chance to end the war in Ukraine via negotiations "if common sense prevails," an option he said he preferred, but that he was ready to end it by force if that was the only way.
Speaking in Beijing at the end of a visit that resulted in an agreement on a new gas pipeline to China, Putin said he perceived "a certain light at the end of the tunnel," given what he said were sincere efforts by the United States to find a settlement to Europe's biggest land war since World War II.
"It seems to me that if common sense prevails, it will be possible to agree on an acceptable solution to end this conflict. That is my assumption," Putin told reporters.
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