Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed  bilateral talks with Ukraine for the first time since the early days of the war, and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv was eager to discuss a halt to attacks on civilian targets.While Zelenskiy did not respond directly to Putin’s proposal, he emphasized in his nightly video address that Ukraine “was ready for any conversation” about a ceasefire that would stop strikes on civilians. 

The two leaders face pressure from the United States, which has threatened to walk away from its peace efforts unless some progress is achieved. Russia and Ukraine have said they are open to further ceasefires after a 30-hour Easter truce declared by Moscow at the weekend. Each side accused the other of violating it. Ukraine will take part in talks with the U.S. and European countries on Wednesday in London, Zelenskiy said.

The discussions are a follow-up to a Paris meeting last week where the U.S. and European states discussed ways to end the more than three-year-old war. Putin, speaking to a Russian state TV reporter, said fighting had resumed after the Easter ceasefire, which he announced unilaterally on Saturday. And Moscow, he said, was open to any peace initiatives and expected the same from Kyiv. “We have always talked about this, that we have a positive attitude towards any peace initiatives.

We hope that representatives of the Kyiv regime will feel the same way,” Putin told state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted later by Interfax news agency, told reporters: “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.” There have been no direct talks between the two sides since the early weeks after Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)