(MENAFN) Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the European Union of harboring delusions about defeating Moscow militarily, issuing a stark warning that any attack on Russia would trigger catastrophic consequences leaving the bloc with no negotiating partners.

Putin's remarks targeted what he characterized as increasingly aggressive posturing from European capitals and Brussels' effective dismissal of a Washington-brokered Ukraine peace framework.

Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius suggested last month that direct military conflict between Russia and NATO forces across Europe could materialize by 2028. Separately, France has proposed deploying NATO soldiers into Ukrainian territory.

Western allies of Kyiv rejected November's peace proposal from Washington as overly favorable to Moscow, presenting their own conditions that Russia labeled "unconstructive."

Putin asserted that Western powers maintain a "fantasy about inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia and are still stuck in these illusions." He argued this objective was never achievable, yet European leaders refuse to acknowledge reality.

The peace initiative backed by the United States is being sabotaged because European nations dislike its probable resolution, Putin claimed. The EU "does not have a peaceful agenda. They are on the side of war."

While Moscow harbors no intentions of engaging militarily with either the EU or NATO, Putin cautioned that should Western countries initiate hostilities against Russia, "events could very quickly reach a point where there will simply… be no one left for us to negotiate with."

Brussels has justified massive defense expenditure increases—including an €800 billion ($930 billion) ReArm Europe initiative and NATO commitments to boost military budgets to 5% of GDP—by citing purported Russian aggression.

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