Russia-Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin ready to talk to Zelenskyy ‘if necessary’, says Kremlin

The Kremlin on Tuesday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was ready to negotiate with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy “if necessary”. The remark came as top diplomats from Russia and the US held talks in Saudi Arabia to negotiate an end to the three-year-long war in Ukraine. No Ukrainian officials were part of the meeting.

“Putin himself said that he would be ready to negotiate with Zelenskyy if necessary but the legal basis of agreements needs discussion considering the reality that Zelenskyy’s legitimacy can be questioned,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.

Zelenskyy, for his part, has maintained that Ukraine would not accept any peace deals brokered behind its back.

“We, as a sovereign country, simply will not be able to accept any agreements without us,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week.

Both Ukraine and Russia have rejected any territorial concessions, with Putin last year insisting that Kyiv pull back its forces from even more areas.

The push for peace talks has gained momentum after Donald Trump resumed his second term as US President. Trump has spoken separately to both Putin and Zelenskyy over telephone.

The meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday is in line with the US’s efforts to halt the conflict in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, even with talks to end the conflict on the table, war continues in Ukraine as Russia attacked Kyiv with drones, as per the Ukrainian military. The Ukrainian air force said Russian troops launched 176 drones at Ukraine overnight, most of which were destroyed or disabled by jamming, as per reports by news agency AP .