As Russia's President Vladimir Putin is holding a news conference. He has vowed to strengthen Russia's sovereignty in what's his first major news conference since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Putin said that peace would only be possible after what he called Kyiv's demilitization. Now that press conference, which is being carried live on all main Russian television channels, as you can see there, comes as EU leaders are meeting in Brussels to discuss further funding for Ukraine. You can see there, someone from the public is asking a question of President Putin. As you can see there, she's in her home. We will be going to that live in a second. But when President Putin was asked about normalizing relations with Europe, he said that he was open to the idea, but that, and I quote, It's not up to us. It's not up to us. We didn't ruin relations. They did that. They've always tried to push us back. President Putin went on to say, We believe that the United States is a necessary country for the world. However, the absolute imperial policies are hurting them. When something changes, we will see the conditions to establish four relations, but now we see nothing.

Well, for more on all of this, we can join my colleague, BBC Monitorings Russia, editor Vitali Shevchenko, who's been watching that news conference. Vitali, we'll go on to some of the other things that President Putin's been saying in a moment. But what we just cut to earlier there was the President taking a question for a member of the public who appeared to be at home. I mean, that's something, isn't it?

Well, it might be unusual for leaders outside of Russia, but this is what Vladimir Putin has been doing for more than 20 years. He's been holding these Q&As called direct lines with members of the public. They've been asking questions from wherever, from the street, from their homes. But the thing to remember is that very little is left unscripted during these events. And whereas Vladimir Putin has taken an uncomfortable or difficult question or two, most of the questions are much more friendly and easy to answer for him, and in fact, serve to further his agenda, really.

Indeed. I mean, it's a hugely orchestrated event, and it's a big spectacle. You can see all the people there in that hall asking questions there. What are we finding out, though, from this news conference that is beyond what we already would expect from President Putin?

Very little. By this point in time, we know what his views are and we know how he implements them. What I found slightly unusual is how heavily focused on Ukraine the first hour of his QNA was. He yet again defended his so-called special military operation against Ukraine. He questioned Ukraine's territorial integrity by claiming that huge swathes of Southeastern Ukraine actually belonged to Russia. He questioned Ukraine's very identity by saying that Ukrainians and Russians are one people, and Russian-speaking Ukrainians, they actually support Russia, i. E, his policies. He remained as defiant as ever when it comes to the war with Ukraine. He said that Russia's objectives remained the same. There's very little change there that would indicate that Vladimir Putin is prepared to compromise with Russia. If the first hour and a half of his QNA is anything to go by, I don't think this is the case.

Okay, Vitali. Well, one more question, because we touched on it earlier before I introduced you, and that is, of course, President Putin's comments about Western countries. The EU, of course, meeting today to discuss funding for Ukraine while all of this is going on.

Vladimir Putin has been saying for years that any tensions between Russia and the West, between Russia and its neighbors are not actually Russia's fault. He's been pointing figures at all sorts of political leaders and countries abroad. And all this time, he's been saying that Russia is prepared to talk to them. Russia is prepared to try and improve relations with them. But this will only happen once their behavior improves. This, realistically, will only happen if any talking happens strictly on Russia's terms of.