Responding to comments by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in which he claimed Kiev was “willing and ready” for dialogue with Russia, the Kremlin said on Thursday that the regime was “generally open to negotiations.”
Kuleba is currently visiting China in Beijing and reportedly made the remarks during talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Both the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Ukrainian state media reported Kuleba as saying that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government is “willing and ready” to engage in dialogue about Russia’s continuing aggression in Ukraine. No details were provided about what Zelensky specifically wanted to discuss or whether Ukrainian authorities believe the aggression can be ended through dialogue.
“Ukraine is willing and ready for dialogue and negotiations with Russia,” Kuleba was quoted as saying. “And, of course, the negotiations should be rational, substantive and aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace.”
The only statement Kuleba himself issued after the Beijing talks was reproduced on his social media accounts, in which he said that in his conversations with Chinese Communist Party officials “we stressed that Ukraine needs a just and lasting peace, not an illusory peace. I am grateful that this position was mutual.”
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that Kuleba’s remarks lacked specifics, but the comments from Ukraine’s top diplomat represent a dramatic shift in Kiev’s rhetoric, which has insisted that Ukraine has nothing to discuss with Russia unless Russian troops withdraw all their forces from Ukrainian sovereign territory.
Russia has been trying to colonize large swaths of Ukrainian territory for more than a decade. Autocrat Vladimir Putin invaded and “annexed” Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and has since “annexed” four other regions in the Donbass region of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhia. Russian officials repetition stated Ending the ongoing full-scale invasion, which began in February 2022, would require Ukraine to relinquish its colonial territories.
Peskov insisted on Thursday that Russia was “open to talks” but suggested it would only engage in negotiations if Russia believed they would help, for example, strengthen control over the occupied territories.
“Russia is generally open to the negotiating process, but we first need to understand whether the Ukrainian side is ready,” Peskov said. Saidby The Moscow Times“From a practical standpoint, we are open to achieving our goals through negotiations.”
Peskov did not elaborate on what “goals” the Russian government was prepared to pursue from the talks.
The spokesman also recalled that President Zelensky used a presidential decree to formally declare negotiations with Russia.impossible“As long as Putin is in power, Russia cannot meet with us,” he said, pointing to the decree, which was signed in October 2022, eight months after the full-scale invasion began, as an obstacle to such talks.
“In addition to the general question of Zelensky’s legitimacy, there is also the issue of the actual legal prohibition of any contacts or negotiations with the Russian side,” Peskov said. “So, there is still a lot to be clarified in this regard.”
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President Zelensky’s term legally ended on May 20, but Ukrainian authorities Extension The bill was passed on the grounds that holding free and fair elections in the war-torn country is currently unrealistic.
Russian news agency TASS reported on Wednesday that Peskov’s initial reaction to Kuleba’s remarks was to declare that it was “too early to discuss details.” Suggest“It would be good to receive a direct explanation from an official representative of the Ukrainian government,” he said.
The last time Putin and Zelenskyy met in person was in 2019, with Zelensky describing the meeting as frustrating and unproductive.
“It’s very difficult to negotiate. [with Putin]”But today there was a moment when we agreed on something, on certain things,” Zelensky explained after the 2019 meeting. “And that’s because he analyzes every question in detail… and then we start taking every word into account…. I’m just a different person. I’m a fast person. I thought we could sit down and agree quickly… but that’s not the case here.”
Meanwhile, President Putin also congratulated the meeting.
“In the end, I think the study was very useful and we share this assessment,” Putin said.
Zelensky has refused to negotiate directly with Putin ever since, and even more so since the 2022 invasion. In September 2022, Zelensky Said It was “clear” that Ukraine would not negotiate with the Putin regime, and would only do so if Putin lost power. Putin “annexed” Donbas, Kherson and Zaporizhia that month.
He also signed a decree shortly thereafter effectively banning any dialogue with Putin’s Russia.
Ukraine’s sudden interest in dialogue follows a phone call this weekend between President Zelensky and former US President Donald Trump, which both sides described as positive.
“Ukraine has always appreciated the US’s assistance in strengthening our capabilities to counter Russian terrorism. Russian attacks on our cities and villages continue every day,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media. “We agreed to meet personally with President Trump to discuss what steps should be taken to make peace just, truly and lasting.”
