WW3 fears as Vladimir Putin's ceasefire offer compared to Hitler's pre-war promises

Vladimir Putin set out his most concrete ceasefire conditions yet to end the war in Ukraine on Friday. However, the Kremlin proposals were swiftly denounced by Western officials, including those in Ukraine, the US and NATO.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky compared the offer to Adolf Hitler's promises before the Second World War, amid growing concerns that Mr Putin will not stop at Ukraine if he wins the war.

President Putin said that Ukraine would have to give up on joining NATO while Kyiv's troops would have to retreat from four territories that Russia claims to have annexed but never fully occupied.

Speaking to Sky Italia while at the G7, Mr Zelensky said: "There is nothing new about this, this is Putin. Putin keeps saying when he will get some of our territories - some that they have already occupied and some others that are not occupied yet, in some of our regions - he says after that he will stop and there will be no 'frozen war'."

The Ukrainian leader compared Mr Putin to the leader of Nazi Germany in the run-up to World War 2, explaining: "This is exactly the kind of things that Hitler would say.

"He would say 'give me a part of the Czech Republic and the war will end', but he was just lying because after that came Poland; 'give me a part of Poland', and then came the occupation of the whole Europe.

"This is what Nazism is about and we can't trust Putin because he's on the very same path."

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg also slammed the conditions set out by the Russian leader, telling reporters: "This is not a proposal made in good faith. This is a proposal that actually means that Russia should achieve their war aims, by expecting that Ukrainians should give up significantly more land than Russia has been able to occupy so far.

"This is a proposal of more aggression, more occupation, and it demonstrates, in a way, that Russia's aim is to control Ukraine."

On Saturday, the Kremlin said the West's widespread and swift rejection of President Putin's proposals for peace talks were unhelpful.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "There is a lot of it, a huge amount of it - official reaction, official statements - all of an unconstructive nature."

Under the demands, Ukraine would have to withdraw from around 26,000 square kilometres that it currently occupies before peace talks can even begin.

The announcement from the Kremlin came on the eve of a much-anticipated two-day summit focused on peace in Ukraine.

Leaders from 90 countries will meet in Switzerland today to discuss paths towards peace in Ukraine - a summit Russia has not been invited to and which China turned down.

It is the biggest gathering for Ukraine since the full-scale invasion. Ukrainian politicians want to use the summit to demonstrate to Moscow that the world stands on their side.

Mr Putin blasted the Switzerland conference as “just another ploy to divert everyone’s attention, reverse the cause and effect of the Ukrainian crisis (and) set the discussion on the wrong track”.