Ukraine war ‘peace’ talks this week were “difficult” but “necessary”, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said, stating coming to a consensus on Ukraine “is no easy feat”.
President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin spoke to Indian media ahead of a two-day visit to India starting Thursday where he will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview in which he is reported to have discussed this week’s Ukraine war peace talks.
Russian state media quoted selected remarks of President Putin who said while the discussion with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were “very useful”, nevertheless “it is difficult work”. Putin added: “This was a necessary conversation, a very concrete one”.
There were some proposals brought to the table that the two sides were able to discuss but not agree on, he said.
Putin is said to have told India Today that, U.S. President Donald Trump is “sincerely trying to find a consensus solution” to what Russia calls “the Ukrainian problem”, but this work “is no easy feat”.
In further remarks, Putin fall back onto his blame game on citing the involvement of European nations for slow progress on Ukraine talks, and blamed Ukraine itself for prolinging the war by not surrendering their territory. On the Donbass, Putin said because of the — highly disputed — referendum held there, Ukraine should simply withdraw.
He said: “We immediately told Ukraine, the Ukrainian troops: the people do not want to live with you, they held a referendum and voted for independence — withdraw your troops, and there will be no military actions. No, they prefer the path of armed confrontation… It all boils down to this: either we will liberate these territories by force, or Ukrainian troops will leave these territories and stop fighting there.”
President Donald Trump also added remarks on what had been reported back to him by Witkoff and Kushner from Tuesday’s Moscow meeting. They the men “got the impression” that Putin “would like to end the war” and the meeting was “reasonably good”, it nevertheless what comes next is unclear because “it does take two to tango”, President Trump warned.