Four sources told Reuters on Friday that President Vladimir Putin is open to freezing the front line in Ukraine and imposing a ceasefire.
In the afternoon, he himself repeated his recurring claim that Russia has always been willing to talk to the Ukrainians.
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At the same time, he rhetorically asked himself “who” he should talk to because, according to him, Ukraine’s government lacks legitimacy.
Putin has previously emphasized that the Kremlin’s goal of “denazifying” and demilitarizing Ukraine remains.
Ukraine: Don’t believe him
During the course of the war, the Ukrainians have been clear that a prerequisite for talks is that all Russian soldiers leave the country. They also want guarantees that the Russians, whom they consider unreliable, will not break future agreements and go on the offensive again.
But Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba does not buy that Putin is ready for peace talks today. According to him, he has “no desire to end his aggression towards Ukraine”.
“Only a principled and united voice of the global majority can force him to choose peace before war,” writes Kuleba on X.
Peace talks in June
A number of countries in the Western world have already backed Ukraine’s ten-point program for peace, including Sweden.
It was presented in the fall of 2022, a few months after the negotiations with Russia shortly after the invasion came to nothing. Dmytro Kuleba later said that during the talks he wanted to punch his Russian counterpart Lavrov in the face.
In an attempt to gather greater international support, a peace conference is held in Switzerland in June to which over 160 countries have been invited. The invitations have mainly gone to the so-called global south, countries in Africa, Asia and South America that have not yet clearly taken a stand in the war.
Russia is not invited and has said they are not interested. On the other hand, Ukraine hopes that China, which has presented its own peace plan, will participate, but whether they intend to do so is unclear.