MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying he was ready for direct talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as “empty words”.
Talk of a negotiated end to the Ukraine conflict has risen with Donald Trump — who has pledged to end the fighting — back in the White House.
Asked how he would feel if he sat opposite Putin at a negotiating table, Zelensky told British journalist Piers Morgan in an interview published Tuesday: “If that is the only set-up in which we can bring peace to the citizens of Ukraine and not lose people, definitely we will go for this set-up.”
On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists: “So far, this cannot be seen as anything but empty words.”
Putin last week said Moscow would hold talks with Ukraine but ruled out speaking directly to Zelensky.
A decree signed by Zelensky in 2022 rules out direct talks with Putin — something Peskov pointed to on Wednesday and that Moscow regularly highlights when asked if it is ready for talks with Kyiv.
The Kremlin spokesman also reiterated Russia’s claim that Zelensky is not a legitimate president, as his five-year mandate in office expired last year.
“Zelensky has big problems de jure (legally) in Ukraine. But even despite that, we remain ready for talks,” Peskov said, saying that the “reality on the ground” meant that Kyiv had to “be the first to demonstrate openness and interest in such talks.”
Peskov said Zelensky’s recent remarks about the provision of Ukraine with nuclear arms that would be sufficient to defend against Russia are “approaching madness,” the TASS news agency reported.
“On the whole, such statements as well as all similar statements are approaching madness. There is a nuclear non-proliferation regime and so on,” Peskov told journalists.
Nuclear weapons for Ukraine
The Ukrainian president stated on Tuesday that the West should provide Ukraine with nuclear weapons and also deploy its troops on the country’s territory if it was not yet ready to grant NATO membership to Kyiv.
Kyiv has repeatedly stated its desire to become a full-fledged NATO member state. In September 2022, Ukraine officially requested fast-tracked membership in the alliance. On January 16, Zelensky complained that Hungary, Germany, Slovakia and the United States currently oppose Ukraine’s NATO membership.
The Budapest Memorandum was signed by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States on December 5, 1994. Under it, Ukraine disposed of its nuclear arsenal, while Russia, the US and the UK issued security guarantees to Kyiv.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in February 2022, Zelensky speculated that Kyiv may reconsider its obligations under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which stipulates that Ukraine rejects nuclear weapons in exchange for guarantees of security.
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Later, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the emergence of even tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine would pose a strategic threat to Russia.
Putin-Zelensky potential talks
After the interview, Zelensky posted comments Wednesday on social media saying that talks with Putin themselves would be a “compromise” for Ukraine and its allies.
“Putin is a murderer and a terrorist. This is a fact,” he said, in comments live-translated into English.
“And if our allies believe that diplomacy is the way forward, let’s be honest: isn’t even a single conversation with Putin a compromise? Talking to a murderer is a compromise for Ukraine and the entire civilised world.”
Zelensky also said Putin “will only understand the need to end this war if he is given a clear ultimatum” by the United States, and that the “power to shape that peace depends on President Trump”.
Peskov on Wednesday said contact with the new US administration had “intensified” but gave no indication of when a possible meeting or call between Putin and Trump could take place.
“There are indeed contacts between individual departments, and recently they have intensified,” he said.
