Putin is open to Ukraine peace, says Kremlin
Putin has previously welcomed the idea in principle, but said that many issues need to be worked out in practice before such a ceasefire can be agreed. The Kremlin said that Russia’s aims had to be achieved either way, saying Moscow’s preference was to achieve its aims peacefully
Published: 07:04 PM,Apr 30,2025 | EDITED : 11:04 PM,Apr 30,2025
A rescuer works at a site of a Russian drone strike, in Dnipro, Ukraine. — Reuters
President Vladimir Putin is open to peace in Ukraine and intense work is going on with the United States, but the conflict is so complicated that the rapid progress that Washington wants is difficult to achieve, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. US President Donald Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly said he wants to end the “bloodbath” of the more than three-year war in Ukraine. But Washington has been signalling that it is frustrated by the failure of Moscow and Kyiv to reach terms to end the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.
“The (Russian) president remains open to political and diplomatic methods of resolving this conflict,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. He noted that Putin had expressed a willingness for direct talks with Ukraine, but that there had been no answer yet from Kyiv. After the Kremlin’s remark, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine was ready for peace talks in any format if Moscow signed up to an unconditional ceasefire.
Putin has previously welcomed the idea in principle, but said that many issues need to be worked out in practice before such a ceasefire can be agreed. The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia’s aims had to be achieved either way, saying Moscow’s preference was to achieve its aims peacefully. “We understand that Washington is willing to achieve a quick success in this process,” Peskov said in English. But news agency TASS quoted Peskov as saying that the root causes of the Ukraine war were too complex to be resolved in one day. Putin’s decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 triggered the worst confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is ready to sign a mineral resources deal with the United States and could do so later on Wednesday, a Ukrainian government source said. “I think maybe late evening Kyiv time, the deal there can be signed,” the source said. — Reuters
“The (Russian) president remains open to political and diplomatic methods of resolving this conflict,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. He noted that Putin had expressed a willingness for direct talks with Ukraine, but that there had been no answer yet from Kyiv. After the Kremlin’s remark, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine was ready for peace talks in any format if Moscow signed up to an unconditional ceasefire.
Putin has previously welcomed the idea in principle, but said that many issues need to be worked out in practice before such a ceasefire can be agreed. The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia’s aims had to be achieved either way, saying Moscow’s preference was to achieve its aims peacefully. “We understand that Washington is willing to achieve a quick success in this process,” Peskov said in English. But news agency TASS quoted Peskov as saying that the root causes of the Ukraine war were too complex to be resolved in one day. Putin’s decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 triggered the worst confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is ready to sign a mineral resources deal with the United States and could do so later on Wednesday, a Ukrainian government source said. “I think maybe late evening Kyiv time, the deal there can be signed,” the source said. — Reuters