MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Wednesday called it “positive” that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has declared himself ready for talks on ending the three-year conflict with Russia.
The Ukrainian leader said Tuesday he was “ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer” amid an unprecedented rift between Ukraine and key ally the United States.
“This approach is generally positive,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in answer to a question from AFP.
In an address to US Congress on Tuesday, President Donald Trump read aloud from a letter he said he had received from Zelenskyy in which he said he was ready for peace talks.
The Kremlin has repeatedly thrown doubt on whether it would hold talks with Zelenskyy.
Trump says Zelenskyy ready for Russia talks, mineral deal
On Wednesday, Peskov cited a decree passed by Zelenskyy that rules out direct negotiations with Putin.
The Ukrainian leader has since said on multiple occasions he would be willing to meet Putin – but only after Kyiv and its Western allies agree a common negotiating position.
Moscow has also accused Zelenskyy of not being a legitimate leader, citing the expiration of his five-year mandate following his 2019 election as president.
Under Ukrainian martial law, elections are banned during wartime.
Zelenskyy’s key European backers have supported the suspension of votes amid Russia’s full-scale offensive, though Trump has falsely claimed the Ukrainian leader is widely unpopular at home and called on him to hold elections.
Trump announced a halt to US military aid to Kyiv this week following his clash with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Friday.
Fears are growing in Kyiv and across Europe that Trump is trying to force Ukraine to accept a peace deal largely favourable to Moscow.
Russia’s troops meanwhile captured another small village in the Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the defence ministry in Moscow said.
Though it captured more ground, the pace of Russia’s advance slowed in February, according to an AFP analysis of US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) data.
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