Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that Russia remains ready for peace negotiations with Ukraine based on the agreements reached in Istanbul and what he described as the realities on the ground.
“Russia, as has been said many times, is ready for peace negotiations with Ukraine. We are ready on the basis of the agreements that were reached in Istanbul and, I remind you, were initialled by the Ukrainian delegation at the time. That means they were satisfied with everything. I see no reason for us to depart from those agreements. But it should be on the basis of the agreements reached in Istanbul, on the basis of the modalities that were discussed in Anchorage, and, most importantly, on the basis of the realities on the ground, as well as the principles outlined a couple of years ago during my address at the Foreign Ministry,” Putin said.
Putin also referred to the strike on a bus carrying Belarusian children in Russia’s Bryansk Region and described it, along with attacks on civilian infrastructure, as “terrorist acts.” He said such incidents would not affect the situation on the battlefield.
“Moreover, such actions, especially strikes against children, only motivate our soldiers on the battlefield to carry out the tasks set for them by the country,” Putin said.
He also claimed that Ukraine’s strikes on Russian territory were intended to “create favorable conditions for itself in the event of the start or resumption of peace negotiations, which were interrupted at Ukraine’s initiative, from what it considers a position of strength.”
