Russian President Vladimir Putin, under pressure from Washington to show his desire to make peace in Ukraine, proposed bilateral talks on Monday with kyiv for the first time in years, and said that he was open to more ceasefire after a day of Easter.
In addition, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed that Kyiv sent a delegation to London to meet the United States on Wednesday and other Western countries.
London talks followed up on a meeting in Paris last week in which the United States and European states discussed the means of ending the war of more than three years.
Putin, speaking to a Russian state television journalist, said the fighting had resumed after his surprise of Easter ceasefire, which he announced unilaterally on Saturday.
The two countries accused the other of having violated Putin’s truce, which kyiv had largely rejected from departure as a blow.
Washington said that it would host an extension of the truce. Zelenskiy, who asked that he be extended to a 30-day ceasefire on civilian targets, said that the Russian attacks continuously during the ceasefire on Sunday showed that Moscow intended to extend the war.
In his comments, Putin said that Moscow was open to all peace initiatives and expected the same thing from kyiv.
“When the president said that it was possible to discuss the question of not seizing civilian goals, including bilaterally, the president had negotiations and discussions with the Ukrainian side,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, to journalists, according to the Interfax news agency.
Zelenskiy made no reference to Putin’s remarks on bilateral talks in its comments on X announcing the Ukrainian delegation for London talks.
“Ukraine, the United Kingdom, France and the United States-we are ready to move forward as constructively as possible, just as we have done before, to make an unconditional cease-fire, followed by the creation of real and lasting peace,” wrote Zelenskiy, adding that he had good discussions with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Earlier Monday, Zelenskiy said that his forces had been responsible for continuing to reflect the actions of the Russian army.
“The nature of Ukraine’s actions will remain symmetrical: the ceasefire will be welcomed by the ceasefire, and the Russian strikes will be encountered with ours in defense. Actions speak ever more than words,” he said on X.
US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both said on Friday that Washington could completely move away from peace talks if the parties were making no more progress in a few days. Trump struck a more optimistic note on Sunday, saying that “let’s hope” that the two parties would conclude a “this week” agreement.
Russia has not yet brought back from its requests, in particular that Ukraine gives up all the land that Putin claims to have annexed and accept permanent neutrality. Ukraine says that it would be equivalent to going and leaving it defenseless if Moscow attacks again.
Asked about Trump’s remarks about a possible peace agreement soon, Peskov told journalists that he would not comment, “especially on the deadline”.
“President Putin and the Russian party remain open to the search for peaceful regulations. We continue to work with the American side and, of course, we hope that this work will give results. ”
Although there are no air raid alerts in Ukraine on Sunday, Ukrainian forces reported nearly 3,000 Russia ceasefire violations with the heaviest views along the Pokrovsk party on the front line, Zelenskiy said on Monday.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had shot Russian positions 444 times and said that it had counted more than 900 Ukrainian drone attacks, also affirming that there were deaths and injuries among the civilian population.
