Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is willing to negotiate with Russia “in any format” once a ceasefire takes hold, while the Financial Times reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin is offering to halt Moscow’s invasion at the current frontlines and relinquish its claims to four Ukrainian regions.
The development comes, which has raised scepticism among UK and European officials that Putin is serious about ending the war.
On Monday, Putin suggested opening talks with Kyiv for the first time since early in the war, .
United States special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to meet with Putin in Russia later this week, three months into negotiations between the White House and Moscow.
Ukraine is participating in discussions in London with the US and other Western countries on Wednesday.
What are leaders saying?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not directly replied to Putin’s offer of bilateral talks but has consistently advocated for a ceasefire.
“We are ready to record that after a ceasefire, we are ready to sit down in any format so that there are no dead ends,” Zelenskyy told reporters in the presidential office in Kyiv.
Russia has previously indicated it would be unwilling to cede its land claims of four Ukrainian regions in negotiations, but that stance has changed, according to reports by the Financial Times.
It reports that Putin offered to relinquish the claims during a meeting with Witkoff earlier this month in St Petersburg.
Russia claimed to annex four Ukrainian provinces after its full-scale invasion in 2022: Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia.
Putin would also halt his invasion of Ukraine along the front lines, the Financial Times reported, but not cede the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized in 2014.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump’s administration has proposed recognising Russia’s annexation of Crimea and freezing the war’s frontlines.
Zelenskyy has long maintained that Ukraine would never recognise such a claim.
Why don’t Europeans trust Russia?
European officials believe Moscow is not ready to agree to a ceasefire because Putin has continued to target Ukraine during talks with the US.
John Healey, the UK’s defence secretary, said Putin’s promises do not line up with the military reality, following Russia’s barrage against Ukraine over Easter.
“While Putin has said he declared an Easter truce, he broke it. While Putin says he wants peace, he rejected a full ceasefire. And while Putin says he wants to put an end to the fighting, he continues to play for time in negotiations,” he told the UK parliament.
Trump said last week that Washington could there was progress within days, saying on Sunday that “hopefully” there would be a deal “this week”.
Additional reporting by the Reuters News Agency
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