Russian President Vladimir Putin Photo: AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow is ready to resume peace talks with Ukraine without any preconditions. This was announced by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov after a three-hour meeting between Putin and US envoy Steve Vitkoff in Moscow, AFP reports.
According to Peskov, this is not the first time Putin has voiced such a position, but this time the signal came amid intensified international efforts to find ways to end the war. The Kremlin talks also touched on the US plan to resolve the conflict. According to the Russian side, after the meeting, the differences between Washington and Moscow over the war in Ukraine are “shrinking”.
Context: Trump, Zelenskyy and new signals of war
The recent diplomatic moves were an important background for this statement: Donald Trump held a personal meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican and later posted a strongly worded post on Truth Social criticising Putin for attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine.
“There is no reason why Putin should be shelling civilian areas, towns and villages. It makes you wonder if he really wants to stop the war, or if he’s just playing everyone for a fool,” Trump wrote, hinting at the possibility of additional sanctions against Russia.
Earlier, Bloomberg reported that the US is demanding that Russia recognise Ukraine’s right to develop its own army and defence industry as part of a potential peace settlement. Details of the discussions have not yet been disclosed.
What is known about the Kremlin’s proposals
Earlier, the Financial Times wrote that Putin had proposed to stop hostilities along the frontline as of today as part of an agreement with Trump. At the same time, Dmitry Peskov warned that much of the information that appears in the Western press is “false” and called for relying only on official sources.
