Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the topic of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and declared his readiness for them. Zelensky spoke about a peace settlement with Russia for the second time this spring. It is believed that more information on the subject is expected to be revealed as a result of the summit in Switzerland.
"We will prepare a document to resolve all issues, with our vision, and we will find the right time to transfer it to the enemy side and discuss it with them,” Zelensky said in a conversation with French blogger Hugo Traver.
Zelensky also spoke on the topic of negotiations with Russia in an interview with CBS News at the end of March. He then noted that Ukraine would drop the requirement about the recovery of its 1991 borders.
Kremlin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Vladimir Putin stated the fact of Moscow's readiness for a peaceful solution to the Ukrainian crisis. According to him, there was no peace initiative proposed.
"There was a statement of Russia's readiness for a peaceful solution to the Ukrainian crisis. That was not an initiative, but a statement of the well-known consistent position of the head of state,” Peskov said.
In his opinion, Ukraine de jure rejects the possibility of negotiations with Russia, and there is no progress on this topic, despite Zelensky's statements.
Speaking about the 1991 borders of Ukraine, Peskov said that Zelensky would have to take into account the new geopolitical reality.
"We have four new entities, and this cannot be ignored; this is a new reality that, of course, everyone will have to reckon with,” Dmitry Peskov said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also spoke about the possibility of negotiations and noted that it was impossible to conduct them with Zelensky.
According to Lavrov, Moscow has long declared its readiness for negotiations, but the Ukrainian authorities could not develop a negotiable position. For this reason, Russia is forced to continue the special military operation in Ukraine.