Russia Reacts to Ukraine Zelensky’s Peace Accord Offer

The Kremlin on Tuesdays through cautioned to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s apparent invitation to a future peace summit.

The Kremlin said, Russia would need to understand what Kyiv means before attending talks.

Zelensky said on Monday that Russia “should be” represented at a second summit on the Ukraine conflict, following high-level talks last month in Switzerland that Moscow did not attend and heavily criticised.

“The first peace summit was not a peace summit at all. So perhaps it is necessary first to understand what he means,” Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov told the Zvezda television channel, responding to Zelensky’s comments.

Zelensky’s apparent welcoming of Russia to talks marks a change of tone from the conference in Switzerland, ahead of which the Ukrainian leader categorically ruled out inviting Moscow.

Leaders and top officials from more than 90 states gathered at a Swiss mountainside resort on June 15 for the two-day summit dedicated to resolving the largest European conflict since World War II.

China and Russia were markedly absent.

The Kremlin sharply criticised the gathering, saying that any discussions on ending the conflict that did not include Russia were “absurd.”

Washington said Monday that it backed Ukraine’s decision to invite Russia to a second summit, but expressed doubt about whether Moscow was ready for talks.

“When they want to invite Russia to that summit, of course, that is something we support,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told journalists.

“We’ve always supported diplomacy when Ukraine is ready, but it has never been clear that the Kremlin is ready for actual diplomacy,” he said.

Ahead of last month’s summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to talks and would announce a ceasefire if Kyiv effectively surrendered territory that Moscow claims as its own.

AFP