MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Saturday that President Vladimir Putin told US envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting on Friday that Russia is ready to hold peace talks with Ukraine “without preconditions”.
“During yesterday’s talks with Trump’s envoy Witkoff, Vladimir Putin reiterated that Russia is ready to resume negotiations with Ukraine without any preconditions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Putin has stated that several times in the past.
The Russian president has regularly set out his demands on the regarding Ukraine, which include control of the five Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed, Ukraine’s renunciation of NATO membership and its demilitarisation.
More broadly, Putin views the conflict as a “hybrid war” waged by NATO against Russia and wants to overhaul Europe’s security architecture, particularly the positioning of NATO forces based near Russia’s borders.
Putin and Witkoff on Friday discussed the possibility of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine during a three-hour meeting in Moscow, which was described by a Kremlin aide as constructive.
Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks on the fighting since the start of the war in 2022.
Trump, Zelensky discuss Ukraine ceasefire
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky met briefly in the hush of St Peter’s basilica before Pope Francis’s funeral in their first encounter since a noisy White House clash.
Zelensky said they discussed a possible unconditional ceasefire with Russia and was “hoping for results” from a “very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic”.
After leaving Rome, Trump indicated a new approach to the Russian president.
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
Ukraine insisted however that its army was still fighting in Kursk, Russian territory which it hopes to use as a bargaining chip in any future peace talks.
“We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out,” Zelensky wrote on X.
An aide to Zelensky described the meeting as “constructive” and the White House called it “a very productive discussion”.
The US president flew out of Rome immediately after the funeral mass and there were no further talks.
But the two leaders also briefly huddled inside the basilica with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron.
Macron’s office described the exchanges as “positive” and he later met Zelensky one-on-one.
Britain said Starmer and Zelensky “discussed positive progress made in recent days” and agreed to “continue working intensively with international partners to drive forward the next stages of planning.”
In St Peter’s Square, Trump rubbed shoulders with dozens of world leaders, many keen to raise the tariffs he has unleashed.
But it was the meeting with Zelensky that drew the most interest as the US leader pushes for a peace deal.
Both sides had kept the prospects of a meeting vague ahead of the funeral with Trump saying only it was “possible”.
Blame game
Trump, while calling on Putin to stop Russia’s attacks, has recently blamed Zelensky for the war and the continuing bloodshed.
Trump has pushed Zelensky to accept concessions such as acknowledging that Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014, will remain in Russian hands under any deal to stop the conflict.
After arriving in Rome, Trump said there had been progress in talks and pushed for the Russian and Ukrainian leaders to meet.
“They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off’,” he posted on his Truth Social platform.
“Most of the major points are agreed to,” he said.
Putin on Friday discussed the “possibility” of direct talks with Ukraine in a meeting with Witkoff, according to a Kremlin aide.
He told Witkoff that Russia is ready to resume talks with Ukraine “without preconditions”, the Kremlin added Saturday.
The Putin-Witkoff came just after a top Russian general was killed in a car bomb attack outside Moscow.
An increasingly frustrated Trump last week threatened to walk away from peace efforts if he does not see progress towards a ceasefire. – Agencies
