Kremlin calls Zelensky's readiness for Putin talks 'empty words'

The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying he was ready for direct talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as "empty words".

Talk of a negotiated end to the nearly three-year conflict has risen with Donald Trump -- who has pledged to end the fighting -- back in the White House and Ukraine's troops struggling on the battlefield in the east.

Asked how he would feel if he sat opposite Putin at a negotiating table, Zelensky told British journalist Piers Morgan in an interview published Tuesday: "If that is the only set-up in which we can bring peace to the citizens of Ukraine and not lose people, definitely we will go for this set-up."

"So far this cannot be seen as anything but empty words," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Putin last week said Moscow would hold talks with Ukraine, but ruled out speaking directly to Zelensky.

A decree signed by Zelensky in 2022 rules out direct talks with Putin -- something Peskov pointed to on Wednesday and that Moscow regularly highlights when asked if it is ready for talks with Kyiv.

The Kremlin spokesman also reiterated Russia's frequent claim that Zelensky is not a legitimate president, as his five-year mandate in office expired last year.

Under martial law, Ukraine has a ban on holding elections.

"Zelensky has big problems de jure (legally) in Ukraine. But even despite that we remain ready for talks," Peskov said.

Zelensky told Morgan he would be ready for talks with Putin involving "four participants", after the interviewer raised the possibility of talks between Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the US.

The Kremlin spokesman said that the "reality on the ground says that Kyiv has to be the first to demonstrate openness and interest in such talks", apparently referring to recent Russian military advances.

- 'Clear ultimatum' -

After the interview, Zelensky posted comments Wednesday on social media saying that talks with Putin in themselves would be a "compromise" for Ukraine and its allies.

"Putin is a murderer and a terrorist. This is a fact," he said, in comments live-translated into English.

"And if our allies believe that diplomacy is the way forward, let's be honest: isn't even a single conversation with Putin a compromise? Talking to a murderer is a compromise for Ukraine and the entire civilized world."

Zelensky also said Putin "will only understand the need to end this war if he is given a clear ultimatum" by the United States, and that the "power to shape that peace depends on President Trump".

Peskov on Wednesday said contact with the new U.S. administration had "intensified" but gave no indication of when a possible meeting or call between Putin and Trump could take place.

"There are indeed contacts between individual departments, and recently they have intensified," he said.

Peskov also slammed Zelensky for suggesting that Ukraine should be allowed to have a nuclear deterrent if it is unable to join NATO.

Zelensky had said Ukraine would need an alternative "package" of protection, including nuclear weapons, if it cannot join NATO or the process drags on.

"Let's put it this way: give us nuclear weapons back, give us strong missile systems, partners, help us fund a million-man army," Zelensky said.

Peskov said that "such statements are bordering on madness", citing international rules on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Kyiv has struggled to hold back Russian forces and Zelensky conceded in his interview with Morgan that Ukraine is unlikely to get back some of the territory it lost to Russia.

"Regrettably, the support that is provided by our partners is insufficient to push Putin fully out of our territories," he said.

Russia on Wednesday said its troops took two more Ukrainian villages in the country's east and north-east as the conflict nears the end of its third year.

Moscow's defence ministry said the army had captured the village of Baranivka in the eastern Donetsk region and Novomlynsk in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces have crossed the Oskil River that previously formed the front line and established a bridgehead.

© Agence France-Presse