Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that peace talks with Ukraine are possible, but without the participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, while at the same time expressing the opinion that he does not see the will on the part of Kiev to start such talks, world agencies report, quoted by BTA.
"Volodymyr Zelensky is not the legitimate president of Ukraine and cannot cancel his own instruction to ban negotiations with Russia," Putin said, quoted by TASS in an interview with Russian state television.
He added that if there is a desire, there are ways to cancel this ban. According to Putin, without the cancellation of Zelensky's decree, the negotiations would be illegitimate, citing this as the main problem.
Reuters interpreted Putin's comments as a sign that Ukraine could start negotiations in a legal manner, but he does not believe that such a will exists on their part at the moment.
Putin specified that according to the Ukrainian constitution, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, is the person who can take action in this context. According to him, Zelensky's term has already expired and the speaker of the parliament automatically assumes the post of acting president. However, the Ukrainian authorities justify the extension of Zelensky's term by the impossibility of holding elections in wartime.
The Russian president expressed readiness for negotiations, but categorically refused to conduct them with the “illegitimate“ Zelensky, adding that he sees no desire for peace talks from Kiev.
According to him, Russia was ready to implement the Istanbul agreements, which were agreed with Ukraine in the spring of 2022, despite some claims to them, and the same agreements were based on proposals from Kiev.
Putin also emphasized that in the spring of 2022, Russia had stopped the offensive on Kiev "out of humanity", in order to avoid additional bloodshed and give a chance to peace negotiations, although Russia was aware that it could be "deceived".
Regarding the future of the conflict, Putin said that without Western support for Ukraine, the war would end within one or two months, assuring that the Ukrainian armed forces "would not last a month" without the necessary funding and armament.
The Russian president emphasized the importance of drones in the conflict and set a goal for Russia to become a world leader in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles by 2030, while also becoming self-sufficient in this sector.