 "Putin says he is open to bilateral talks with Ukraine after Easter truce")
Russian President Vladimir Putin, facing mounting pressure from Washington to show a willingness to pursue peace in Ukraine, proposed bilateral talks with Kyiv on Monday, his first such offer in years and signaled readiness for additional ceasefires following a one-day Easter truce.
Putin confirmed that fighting had resumed after his surprise 30-hour ceasefire, announced unilaterally on Saturday. Both Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of violating the truce, which Ukraine had dismissed as a political maneuver.
The United States welcomed the possibility of extending the pause in hostilities, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged that the ceasefire be expanded into a 30-day truce to safeguard civilian areas.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has vowed to end the three-year-old war swiftly, has reoriented U.S. policy away from its staunch support of Ukraine towards accepting Russia’s account of the war, but has so far won few concessions from Moscow.
Russia rejected a Trump proposal last month for a full 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine had accepted. U.S. officials held parallel talks with both sides in Saudi Arabia, but they agreed only to limited pauses on attacks on energy targets, which they accuse each other of violating.
Speaking to a Russian state TV reporter, Putin said Moscow was open to any peace initiatives and expected the same from Kyiv.
”We always have a positive attitude towards a truce, which is why we came up with such an initiative, especially since we are talking about the bright Easter days,” Putin said.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAsked about Zelenskiy’s proposed 30-day truce on civilian targets, he said: ”This is all a subject for careful study, perhaps even bilaterally. We do not rule this out.”
His spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, later confirmed that Putin was referring to the possibility of direct talks with Ukraine. The two sides are not known to have held any such talks since a failed peace effort in the early months of the war three years ago.
”When the president said that it was possible to discuss the issue of not striking civilian targets, including bilaterally, the president had in mind negotiations and discussions with the Ukrainian side,” Peskov said, according to Interfax news agency.
With inputs from agencies
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