Afghan Voice Agency (AVA): Bloomberg quoted Volodymyr Zelensky as saying: The only question is what guarantees security, and frankly, I want to have an understanding before the talks.
He added: If Trump can guarantee this strong and irreversible security for Ukraine, we will move along this diplomatic path.
Last year, Putin said that he would only be willing to talk to Zelensky if he holds an election and wins it to restore his legitimacy.
Zelensky's change of position from prohibiting talks with Putin to being ready to talk with him came with Trump taking office in the United States. "The only question is what guarantees security."
These statements come after Zelensky issued a decree in the fall of 2022 banning any negotiations with Putin after Moscow annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye, and his foreign minister recently said that the ban remains in effect.
Trump, who entered the White House promising a 24-hour end to the war in Ukraine and a reduction in aid to Kiev, said on Tuesday that he was ready to talk to Putin at any time about a diplomatic resolution to the war in Ukraine, in which Russia has the upper hand and is not willing to give up territory under its control.
Putin responded to these statements, and today his spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that Russia is “ready for equal talks with the United States and is waiting for signals from Washington.”