Russian President Vladimir Putin told US envoy Steve Witkoff that Russia is ready to hold talks with Ukraine “without preconditions”, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
“During yesterday’s talks with Trump’s envoy Witkoff, Vladimir Putin reiterated that Russia is ready to resume negotiations with Ukraine without any preconditions,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who also added that Putin has repeated the same several times.
This comes in the midst of US President Donald Trump’s talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome, at the funeral of Pope Francis.
In a post on Truth Social after his talks with Zelensky, Trump also said maybe Putin “has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?'”
He posted on his social media platform he said, “…there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through “Banking” or “Secondary Sanctions?” Too many people are dying!!!”
Trump, who promised on the campaign trail to strike a deal between Moscow and Kyiv in 24 hours, has in three months failed to wrangle concessions from Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt his invasion.
The Republican had said over the weekend he hoped a peace deal could be struck “this week” despite no signs the two sides are anywhere close to agreeing even a ceasefire, let alone a wider long-term settlement.
Moscow’s forces occupy around a fifth of Ukrainian territory and tens of thousands have been killed since they invaded in February 2022.
