Putin ready to talk with Ukraine without preconditions

According to RIA Novosti, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that at a meeting with US President's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia is ready to negotiate with Ukraine without preconditions.

"In a conversation on April 25 with President Trump's special envoy Witkoff, President Vladimir Putin reiterated that the Russian side is ready to resume the negotiation process with Ukraine without any preconditions," the Kremlin press secretary said.

Mr. Peskov recalled that President Putin had previously spoken about this issue many times.

On April 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin and special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks at the Kremlin. Also attending were presidential aide Yuri Ushakov and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev.

After the meeting, Mr. Ushakov said that the meeting, which lasted three hours, was constructive and useful. The sides discussed the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between representatives of Russia and Ukraine.

In addition, the talks helped bring Moscow and Washington's positions closer together not only on conflict resolution but also on other international issues, the presidential aide added, adding that Russia and the US will continue to talk.

While negotiations are trying to untangle all the knots, the Russian army continues to attack military and near-military targets as assigned by the Supreme Commander.

In the wake of these attacks, US President Donald Trump declared that Russia had “no reason” to attack Ukraine’s infrastructure. At the same time, Trump threatened to sanction the bank, despite Moscow’s claims that only military and near-military targets were attacked.

"This makes me think that perhaps Vladimir Putin doesn't want to stop the war and he needs to be treated differently, either through banking or secondary sanctions?" – President Trump wrote on the social network Truth Social on April 26.