#Vladimir Putin#Russia#Ukraine#peace talks #Kyiv#Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Moscow/IBNS-CMEDIA: Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is under pressure from the US for a peace deal with Ukraine, on Monday proposed bilateral talks with Kyiv for the first time in years.
He said he was open to more ceasefires following a one-day Easter truce.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Kyiv was sending a delegation to London to meet with the United States and other Western countries on Wednesday.
The talks are a follow-up to a meeting in Paris last week during which the US and European states discussed ways to end the more than three-year-old war.
Speaking to a Russian state TV reporter, Putin said fighting had resumed after his 30-hour Easter ceasefire, which he announced unilaterally on Saturday.
Both countries accused the other of violating Putin’s truce, which Kyiv had largely dismissed from the outset as a stunt.
The US said it would welcome an extension of the truce.
Zelenskyy, who has called for it to be extended to a 30-day ceasefire on civilian targets, said continued Russian attacks during Sunday’s ceasefire showed Moscow’s intent on continuing the war.
In his comments, Putin said Moscow was open to any peace initiatives and expected the same from Kyiv.
“When the president said that it was possible to discuss the issue of not striking civilian targets, including bilaterally, the president had in mind negotiations and discussions with the Ukrainian side,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Interfax news agency.
Zelenskyy did not refer to Putin’s remarks on bilateral talks in his comments on X announcing the Ukrainian delegation for the London talks.
“Ukraine, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States – we are ready to move forward as constructively as possible, just as we have done before, to achieve an unconditional ceasefire, followed by the establishment of a real and lasting peace,” he wrote, adding that he had good discussions with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Earlier the the day, Zelenskyy said that his forces were instructed to continue to mirror the Russian army’s actions.
“The nature of Ukraine’s actions will remain symmetrical: ceasefire will be met with ceasefire, and Russian strikes will be met with our own in defence. Actions always speak louder than words,” he said on X.
Both US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that Washington DC will walk away from peace talks altogether if the sides do not make more progress within days.
Trump on Sunday said that “hopefully” the two sides would make a deal “this week”.
