Russia responds to Zelensky proposal for talks

Vladimir Zelensky’s signal that Ukraine is ready to resume peace talks with Moscow is not credible, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

In recent weeks, Zelensky has said that Kiev wants to end the conflict “as soon as possible,” preferably “by the end of this year.” He has also insisted on holding a second ‘peace summit’ to achieve that goal.

The previous such event, hosted by Switzerland last month, focused on several points of Kiev’s ‘peace formula’ – which demands that Russia withdraw its troops from all territory claimed by Ukraine. Moscow has dismissed the plan as detached from reality.

Commenting on the possibility of peace with Ukraine, Zakharova told reporters on Wednesday that “nobody trusts [Zelensky].”

“Everyone knows perfectly well that this is a man who can twist anything, who can lie, who can refuse everything,” she said.

She recalled that Ukraine and its Western backers have done nothing to rescind Zelensky’s presidential decree barring Kiev from any talks with the current leadership in Moscow. The Ukrainian leader approved the document in the fall of 2022 after four former Ukrainian regions voted overwhelmingly to join Russia.

Last week, however, Zelensky suggested that he saw “no difference” in whether he had to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin, or someone else, to end the conflict.

“We hear a lot of words, but we don’t see actions at all,” Zakharova noted, suggesting that Zelensky’s statements are no more than another attempt to promote Kiev’s ‘peace formula’ and dupe countries around the world into supporting the initiative.

The spokeswoman also opined that Zelensky’s unexpected “flexibility” on peace talks could be linked to recent major shifts in the US political landscape. She was referring to a recent assassination attempt on Republican presential nominee Donald Trump and incumbent Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race.