Ukrainian president says open to negotiations with Russia, reiterating key terms in Kyiv

The Ukrainian president has signaled he is open to peace talks with Russia, softening his stance of refusing to negotiate with Russia as long as President Vladimir Putin remains in power, while upholding Kyiv’s core demands. I am sticking to

Volodymyr Zelensky’s appeal to the international community to “force Russia into genuine peace talks” reflected a shift in rhetoric. In late September, after Russia illegally annexed four regions of Ukraine, he signed a decree that made it “impossible to hold talks” with President Putin.

But it’s hard to see how Zelensky’s latest comments will move negotiations forward, as the assumptions Ukrainian leaders laid out late Monday don’t appear to be a starting point for Moscow.

President Zelensky reiterated that the terms of the dialogue are the return of all occupied territories of Ukraine, compensation for war damages and prosecution of war crimes. He did not specify how world leaders should force Russia to negotiate.

Western weapons and aid have been key to Ukraine’s ability to repel Russian aggression. Initially, some expected it to tear the country apart with relative ease. According to political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko, that means Kyiv cannot ignore how the war is viewed in the United States and the European Union.

Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based independent think tank Pentacenter, said: “The negotiating commitments do not oblige Kyiv, but they will allow us to maintain the support of our Western partners. Zelensky is trying to work out a ruse.”

“Since the firm refusal to hold talks falls into the hands of the Kremlin, Zelensky has changed tactics and is talking about the possibility of dialogue, but with the condition that everything will be very clear,” he added.

US midterm elections could complicate support

Support for Ukraine has strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress, but that will be complicated by a growing conservative opposition if Republicans take control of the House in next Tuesday’s election. there is a possibility.

A recent statement by Republican leader Kevin McCarthy that lawmakers won’t write a “blank check” to Ukraine reflects growing Republican skepticism about the cost of aid.

Privately held, Republican lawmakers who support aid to Ukraine believe the current Congress has an opportunity to pass another aid tranche this year.

Russia and Ukraine held several talks in Belarus and Turkey early in the war, but the war is now looming nine months old and Zelensky has repeatedly called for a personal meeting with Putin, but the Kremlin said it would not. ignored.

Talks stalled after the delegation’s last meeting in Istanbul in March yielded no results.

Zelensky said on Monday that Kyiv ‘repeatedly proposed’ [talks] And in response, there was a constant insane reaction from Russia: new terrorist attacks, shelling, threats. ”

Russia resumed calls for negotiations after it began losing Ukrainian counterattacks in the east and south in September. He rejected the possibility of negotiations with Putin later in the month.

Moscow accuses Kyiv of lacking ‘good intentions’

Zelensky said on Monday that Ukraine’s terms of dialogue included “restoration of (Ukraine’s) territorial integrity … compensation for all war damages, punishment of all war criminals and assurance that it will never happen again.” said that

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said on Tuesday that Moscow had not set any terms for the resumption of talks. He accused Kyiv of lacking “goodwill”.

“This is their choice,” Rudenko said. “We have always declared our readiness for such negotiations.”

Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly accused the United States of preventing Ukraine from participating in peace talks, and several countries have offered mediation.

In an interview published Tuesday, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podlyak said the West would not pressure Kyiv to negotiate on Moscow terms.

“Ukraine receives fairly effective weapons from its partners, first and foremost from the United States,” said Podlyak. “We are driving the Russian military out of our territory. And given that, it would be nonsense to force us to negotiate and effectively yield to a Russian ultimatum! No one would do that.”

US pledges $25 million for winter aid

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has reassured Ukrainian farmers that extending the wartime pact that allows Ukrainian grain and other commodities to be shipped across the Black Sea is a priority for the United Nations.

An agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey allowed more than 10 million tons of grain to leave Ukrainian ports and move along designated corridors. The expiration date is he November 19th.

A Russian diplomat on Tuesday said the Kremlin had not decided whether to extend it, citing Moscow’s dissatisfaction with its implementation.

During a visit to Kyiv, US Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield was asked if she was speaking to Ukrainians about the US idea of ​​ending the war.

She replied: “Russia started this. Russia can end this. Russia can end it by withdrawing its troops and ending the atrocities it is committing against the Ukrainian people.” ”

She announced an additional $25 million in aid to help Ukrainians survive the winter.

In other development:

• In the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where Russia is struggling to gain full control, Moscow shelling has killed three civilians in the past 24 hours, according to Donetsk governor Pablo Kirilenko. Seven people were injured. He said the deaths occurred in the city of Bakhmut and the town of Krasnohorivka, the main targets of the heavy Russian offensive in Donetsk. Ukraine’s deputy defense minister last week described the Bakhmut region as the “epicenter” of fighting in eastern Ukraine.
• Elsewhere, unexploded ordnance landmines seriously injured two civilians in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces recaptured large swaths of territory in September, said Kharkiv governor Olev Sinievbov. rice field.
• In the southern partly occupied Kherson region, where Ukrainian forces have successfully counterattacked, Russian-installed authorities said they had completed the evacuation of residents ahead of the expected Ukrainian advance. The Kremlin-appointed government has sought to displace tens of thousands of people.
• Satellite images analyzed by the Associated Press show a rapid expansion of cemeteries in southern Ukraine in the months since Russian forces occupied the port city of Mariupol. It is unknown how many people were buried there.