The Kremlin Reacts to Comments by Ukrainian Foreign Minister

Russia RESPONDS to Ukraine’s TALKS

In response to remarks made by Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, claiming that Kyiv is “willing and ready” for talks with Russia, the Kremlin declared on Thursday that the government was “generally open” to talks.

 

According to reports, Kuleba made the remarks while speaking with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, China, as part of a current tour. He said that the administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky was “willing and ready” for conversation regarding Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, according to both the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian state media. There was no indication in the reports as to what Zelensky would specifically like to be discussed or whether Ukrainian officials thought that talks could end the invasion.

 

The foreign minister said that, in speaking with Chinese communist officials, “I emphasized that Ukraine needs a just and lasting peace, not just an illusion of peace, and I appreciate that this position was reciprocated,” in one of the few statements that Kuleba himself released after the Beijing talks and that were posted on his social media accounts.

 

The remarks from Ukraine’s top diplomat marked a dramatic shift in rhetoric coming out of Kyiv, which has insisted that Ukraine has nothing to discuss with Russia until the Russian military pulls out of all sovereign Ukrainian territory. This is despite the lack of detail in Kuleba’s remarks, which Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized.

Despite saying that Russia is “open” to talks, Peskov’s remarks on Thursday implied that Moscow would only engage in negotiations if it believed doing so would enable it to further its demands, including maintaining its tight grip on the seized areas.

 

The spokesperson further mentioned that Zelensky had utilized an official mandate to declare any talks with Russia “impossible” as long as Putin held the reins of power. The decree was signed in October 2022, eight months into the full-scale invasion.

 

Although Zelensky’s tenure as president was set to expire on May 20, Ukrainian authorities decided to extend it since it is now impractical to hold a free and fair election in the war-torn nation.

 

In response to Kuleba’s remarks, Peskov first said that it was “too early to talk about any detail,” adding that it “would be nice to obtain explanations from an official representative” of the Ukrainian government directly. This was according to a story published on Wednesday by the Russian news agency Tass.

 

Zelensky and Putin last had face-to-face discussions in 2019, which Zelensky characterized as frustrating and fruitless at the time. Putin, for his part, hailed that meeting.

 

“In the end, I think, and we share this assessment, that this work was very useful,” Putin said.

 

Following a favorable phone conversation that both Zelensky and former US President Donald Trump reported as having taken place this weekend, there has been a sudden desire in talks from Ukraine.