A key Volodymyr Zelensky aide said tyrant Vladimir Putin doesn’t want his war against Ukraine to end...so he “must be stopped”. The chilling warning came after Donald Trump held a two-hour call with the Russian President, after which he claimed there was a "good chance" of peace.

Talks between the warring neighbours will begin "immediately" but Mr Trump said America has a red line on when they will wash their hands of the crisis and the "big egos” involved but refused to say what it is or when. He warned: "This was a European situation, it should have remained a European situation."

Mr Trump spoke to Putin as part of a bid to push the two countries towards agreeing a truce in a war that erupted in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.

He claimed he asked Mr Putin: “When are we going to end this bloodbath?”

He said of the Russian president: "I do believe he wants to end [the war]. My whole life is deals, one big deal, and if I thought that President Putin did not want to get this over with, I wouldn't even be talking about it because I'd just pull out.”

Mr Trump previously boasted he could solve the war in a day, but, after initial positive soundings, there now appears to be a realisation that Russia and Ukraine should be left to sort out the mess themselves.

Russia has stubbornly refused to agree to a ceasefire as a condition of entering peace talks and wants guarantees that Ukraine will not join the NATO military alliance.

Experts say this clearly indicates Putin’s war - which has left at least 250,000 dead - will continue indefinitely.

Anton Gerashchenko, former deputy minister at the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs and a trusted lieutenant of Zelensky, said: “In essence, Putin is stalling for time. He doesn't want a ceasefire, he doesn't want to stop the war. Putin won't stop himself. He must be stopped.”

He added: “The talk now is about direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia - this is Putin's formula of ‘negotiations first and then a ceasefire’. There will be no ceasefire.

“Negotiations alone do not guarantee a quick result, and finding compromises may take a long time. In the meantime, the war will continue. As the Russian side has repeatedly stated, they believe that they can achieve successes on the front, and they expect this could change the negotiating positions in their favour.

“On this basis, the final conditions for the end of the war directly depend on the situation on the battlefield. Therefore, the Ukrainian Armed Forces need maximum support and attention.”

Since its "special military operation" started more than three years ago, Russian forces have taken around one-fifth of Ukraine in Europe's biggest conflict since the Second World War.

Kyiv has refused to concede any territory to Russia as part of a peace deal, including Crimea which is regarded as occupied Ukrainian territory.