Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that it was open to bilateral talks with the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since the early war stadiums.
Addressing Russian state television on Monday, Putin said that Russia had “always examined peace initiatives. We hope that the kyiv regime’s representatives will feel the same”.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s comments indicated a desire to engage in direct talks with Ukraine not to hit Civilians.
Meanwhile, Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities have continued. A blow on a building in Zaporizhzhia killed a woman on Tuesday and injured 15 others, including two children.
Images have shown the damage flowing from the high -rise residential building and a fire vehicle in the street.
The Ukrainian authorities also reported several attacks elsewhere across the country on Tuesday, including a massive drone attack against the eastern city of Kharkiv which injured at least seven people and a strike on a medical establishment in the south-east of Kherson.
In the port city of Odesa, three people were injured when a drone strike hit a five -story unit block on Monday evening. Other buildings have been targeted, the local authorities reported.
Putin’s remarks occurred after Zelensky suggested a 30-day ceasefire on civilian targets, following a brief Easter truce where the two parties accused themselves of violations.
Some criticisms qualified the 30 -hour truce a marketing blow from Moscow. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, said that he had been designed to prevent Donald Trump from becoming impatient and angry.
The American president said earlier this week that he hoped that Russia and Ukraine would conclude an agreement this week, after threatening to “make a pass” on new peace negotiations if no progress was made.
Zelensky did not respond directly to Putin’s comments on possible talks, but said that Ukraine was “ready for any conversation” which would ensure civilians’ safety.
There was no direct talks between Russia and Ukraine for the first few weeks after the launch of its large -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“When the president said that it was possible to discuss the question of not seizing civil objectives, including bilaterally, the president had in mind negotiations and discussions with the Ukrainian side,” Peskov told the Interfax news agency, clarifying Putin’s remarks.
Zelensky, in his night video address, said on Monday that Ukraine needed a “clear response from Moscow” on the question of whether he would agree to stop attacks against civil infrastructure.
Referring to the short -term and limited truce declared by Putin at Easter, the Ukrainian chief proposed a follow -up that “stops any strike using long -range drones and missiles on civil infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days”.
“If Russia does not accept such a step, it will be proof that it wants to continue to do things that destroy people’s lives and continue war,” he said.
Putin said the Kremlin “analyzes” the idea, telling journalists that “as to the proposal not to strike in civil infrastructure facilities … This must be settled”.
In a rare entry, he recognized that the soldiers had targeted a civilian building when Russian missiles killed 35 people and injured more than 100 others in the center of the northeast city of Sumy at the beginning of the month.
“Everyone is well aware of the strike of our armed forces on a center of the congress, I think, in the Sumy region. Is it a civil or not? Civil establishment. But there was a ceremony for the awards ceremony for those who have committed crimes in the Kursk region”.
The center of Sumy was occupied at the time, with people in the streets marking on Sunday of the branches. The deputy chief of the region was then dismissed after the information according to which the medal ceremony takes place in a room in the local congress emerged.
Ukraine should participate in talks with the American and European countries of London on Wednesday, following a meeting in Paris last week where the leaders discussed the tracks to end the war.
Zelensky said that the “main task” of talks would be “to put pressure on a unconditional ceasefire”.
