Russia Ready To Compromise On Ukraine War In Talks With Trump, Says Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had no preconditions for initiating talks with Ukraine and was willing to negotiate with anyone, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia should have launched an invasion of Ukraine much earlier and should have been much better prepared for war. During a press conference, Putin said, there should have been "systemic preparation" for the 2022 "special military operation".
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and pro-Russian forces initiated a conflict in eastern Ukraine. However, it was eight years later Putin launched a full-scale invasion to capture Kyiv.
Billed as "Results of the Year with Vladimir Putin," the event was broadcast live on Thursday across the main state TV channels. During the event, Putin answered questions from members of the public, foreign journalists, and pensioners.
A lengthy portion of the session was focused on the war in Ukraine, with Putin saying he was "open to compromises" to end the war. According to Reuters, he said that he was ready to compromise over Ukraine in possible talks with US President-elect Donald Trump on ending the war and had no conditions for starting talks with the Ukrainian authorities.
Trump, a self-styled master of brokering agreements has vowed to end the conflict swiftly but has not yet given any details on how he might achieve that. Putin said that he was ready to meet Trump. However, when he was asked what he might be able to offer Trump, Putin dismissed an assertion that Russia was in a weak position, saying that Russia had got much stronger since he ordered troops into Ukraine in 2022.
As per Reuters, "We have always said that we are ready for negotiations and compromises," Putin said, after saying that Russian forces, advancing across the entire front, were moving towards achieving their primary goals in Ukraine.
He said that “Ukrainians who want to fight will run out” and that there will be no one left who would want to fight. “We are ready, but the other side needs to be ready for both negotiations and compromises."
Putin stated that Russia had no preconditions for initiating talks with Ukraine and was willing to negotiate with anyone, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. However, he said that any agreement could only be signed with Ukraine's legitimate authorities, which the Kremlin currently recognises as the Ukrainian parliament.
Putin dismissed the idea of agreeing to a temporary truce with Kyiv, saying only a long-lasting peace deal with Ukraine would suffice.
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