Russia Ready To Return To Ukraine Talks, Putin Says, Insisting On Security For Europe

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that any future negotiations to settle the war in Ukraine should concentrate on security guarantees for both Russia and Ukraine, as well as a broader security arrangement covering the whole of Europe.

Speaking in an interview on Russian television, a day after meeting US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, Putin confirmed that Moscow is prepared to restart US-mediated talks with Ukraine next month.

He repeated the Kremlin’s long-held position that Russia never wanted the war, claiming it had instead met a hostile response from Ukraine on issues Moscow considers vital.

Putin said discussions on a range of topics could yield a positive result, but stressed that Russia wants a lasting end to the conflict rather than a brief ceasefire.

“The goal of these talks will be to ensure the security of Ukraine and Russia after reaching peace agreements, in their final form, not as a result of a temporary ceasefire for some short period of time,” Putin said.

“We are ready to resume these contacts to achieve this goal.”

According to Putin, Witkoff also emphasized that the talks needed to cover “the architecture of European security as a whole. And I agree with that too. Well, let’s see how things develop in the coming days.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who met Witkoff in Norway on Tuesday, said Ukraine was ready for talks that are likely to be held by early next month.

Related: Putin Threatens To Expand Military Operations In Ukraine If Negotiations Collapse

He added that Kyiv backed “any proposals for a ceasefire, an end to the war, an energy ceasefire as well as humanitarian initiatives.”

US-led efforts to advance negotiations came to a halt in February, when the US-Israeli conflict with Iran broke out.

Territory sits at the heart of many of the disputes. Russia is demanding that Ukraine hand over the entire Donbas region in the east, while Kyiv refuses to surrender any land it currently controls.

Putin argued that any discussion of eastern Ukrainian territory must take into account what he described as the area’s status as “historically Russian land.”

He also said local residents had voted to join Russia in referendums held seven months after Moscow began its invasion.

“Firstly, my attitude on this matter is that this is not their territory. It’s the territory of historical Russia,” he said.