Putin proposes direct negotiations with Ukraine: How will Kyiv respond?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed initiating bilateral negotiations with Ukraine for the first time since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine. This was reported by Reuters news agency.

According to the publication, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not yet given a specific response to Putin's initiative, although Kyiv particularly emphasized its readiness for "any peace talks."

It is noted that Putin's statement emerged under significant pressure from the United States. A few days earlier, the United States had threatened to withdraw from peace negotiation efforts if substantial progress was not achieved in this direction.

In his statement, Putin said the following: “We positively accept any peace initiatives and hope that representatives of the Kyiv regime will adopt a similar approach.”

Subsequently, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov clarified Putin's remarks, stating: “When the president spoke about the possibility of discussing the cessation of attacks on civilian targets, including in a bilateral format, he meant exactly negotiations with Ukraine.”

Peskov also added that Russia remains open to a peaceful resolution of the conflict. He expressed hope that negotiations with the US would yield results.

It is worth recalling that direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have been proposed for the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territory in February 2022. Before this point, no such negotiations had occurred between the two countries.

At the end of last week, US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that if visible progress in peace negotiations was not achieved within a few days, the US might abandon these efforts. Shortly after, Trump predicted that the two countries “would reach a peace agreement this week.”

The international community is closely monitoring developments between Russia and Ukraine. Currently, everyone’s attention is focused on how Kyiv will respond to these negotiations. Read 'Zamin' on Telegram!