Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday shifted responsibility to Ukraine for the lack of progress in negotiations to end Russia's occupation of Ukraine, which began more than three years ago.
Putin said he is in favor of engaging in talks with Ukraine, but that expectations for results should not be "high."
He made these statements during a meeting with Belarusian leader Alayksandr Lukashenka on Valaam, an island in northwestern Russia.
"In order to reach a peaceful solution, we need serious, non-public talks. This must happen quietly, in the calm of the negotiation process," Putin said, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
"If the Ukrainian leadership believes that now is not the right time, that they should wait, then we are willing to wait."
These statements were in response to comments made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said that genuine negotiations would only be possible after a change of power in Moscow.
However, on August 1, Zelensky said he was open to dialogue.
Following Putin's statements, he wrote on X that "if these are signals of a sincere will to end the war with dignity and establish a truly lasting peace – and not simply attempts to buy time for war or postpone sanctions – then Ukraine once again confirms its readiness to meet at the leadership level at any moment."
Moscow and Kiev resumed direct talks in May for the first time since 2022. Three subsequent rounds of talks resulted in exchanges of prisoners and dead soldiers, but brought no progress towards stopping the fighting.
The statements by the two leaders come as US President Donald Trump has increased pressure on Moscow, threatening tough sanctions. He also gave the parties 50 days to agree on a ceasefire earlier this month. But he later said he was giving Russia 10 to 12 days to end the war that began in February 2022./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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