This is a shocking statement from the Russian president. Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, September 5, that he was willing to hold talks with kyiv on the basis of those in spring 2022, if Ukraine so requests, while Moscow ruled out any discussion due to the Ukrainian offensive in August against the Kursk region.
“Are we ready to negotiate with them? We have never refused,” the Russian president said at an economic forum in Vladivostok, “if a desire to negotiate emerges (in Ukraine), we will not refuse,” he added, affirming however that the talks should be based on the conclusions of negotiations that took place in spring 2022 in Istanbul.
On the ground, the conquest of Donbass, in eastern Ukraine, is “the number one priority” for Russia, he said on Thursday, also assuring that his army was pushing back Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region.
“The enemy’s goal (in attacking Russia’s Kursk region) was to make us nervous and agitated to redeploy our troops from one area to another and stop our offensive in key areas, especially in Donbass, the liberation of which is our number one priority,” the head of state said at an economic forum in the Russian Far East. In the Kursk region, “our armed forces have stabilized the situation and have begun to gradually expel” the Ukrainian army, he added.