Putin suggests Russia open to direct talks with Kyiv, as strikes continue

Vladimir Putin signalled he was open to talks with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since the early stages of the war, but Russian strikes continued hours after his comments.

Speaking to Russian state TV on Monday, Putin said Russia had “always looked positively on any peace initiatives. We hope that representatives of the Kyiv regime will feel the same way”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s comments indicated a willingness to engage in direct talks with Ukraine about not striking civilian targets.

However, Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities continued on Tuesday with a wave of strikes across the country.

A strike on an apartment block in Zaporizhzhia killed one woman and injured 20 others, including four children.

In Kharkiv in the country’s east, authorities said a massive drone attack on Tuesday during the daytime injured at least seven people.

President Zelensky said on Tuesday afternoon there had also been strikes on Odesa, Sumy, Donetsk and other southern regions, while Ukrainian media also reported a strike in south-east Kherson.

The Monday night strike on Odesa had targeted a five-storey unit block and injured three people, local media reported.

President Zelensky described the wave of attacks as “deliberate Russian terror” which could be “stopped by a single order”.

This had been proven by the short-lived Easter truce on Saturday, “when there were no airstrikes in Ukraine”, he wrote on Telegram.

He again reiterated that Ukraine had proposed to extend that truce. He also again raised his proposal, voiced on Sunday, for a 30-day period for a cease to “any strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days”.

Putin’s remarks on Monday evening were believed to be in response to this proposal.

There have been no direct talks between Russia and Ukraine since the initial weeks after the former launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“When the president said that it was possible to discuss the issue of not striking civilian targets, including bilaterally, the president had in mind negotiations and discussions with the Ukrainian side,” Peskov told the Interfax news agency, clarifying Putin’s remarks.

Zelensky, in his nightly video address, on Monday said Ukraine needed a “clear answer from Moscow” on whether it would agree to stop attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Referring to the short-lived and limited truce declared by Putin over Easter, the Ukrainian leader proposed a follow-up that would “cease any strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days”.

“If Russia does not agree to such a step, it will be proof that it wants to continue doing only things that destroy people’s lives and continue the war,” he said.

Putin said the Kremlin would “analyse” the idea, telling journalists that “as for the proposal not to strike at civilian infrastructure facilities… this needs to be sorted out”.

In a rare admission, he acknowledged that the military had targeted a civilian building when Russian missiles killed 35 people and wounded more than 100 others in the centre of the north-eastern city of Sumy earlier this month.

This was the worst Russian attack on civilians in Ukraine this year.

“Everyone is well aware of the strike by our Armed Forces on a congress centre, I think, in Sumy Region. Is it a civilian facility or not? Civilian,” Putin said.

“But there was an award ceremony for those who committed crimes in Kursk Region,” he added referring to gathering of Ukrainian soldiers in the city centre at the time.

The centre of Sumy was busy at the time, with people out on the streets marking Palm Sunday. The region’s deputy leader was later fired after reports of the medal ceremony taking place in a local congress hall emerged.

Ukraine is due to participate in talks with US and European countries in London on Wednesday, following a meeting in Paris last week where leaders discussed pathways to end the war.

Zelensky said the “primary task” of the talks would be “to push for an unconditional ceasefire”.

The US President said earlier this week that he was hopeful Russia and Ukraine would reach a deal this week, after he had threatened to “take a pass” on further peace negotiations if no progress is made.

Some critics had called Putin’s 30-hour Easter truce a marketing stunt by Moscow. France’s foreign minister, Jean- Noël Barrot, said it had been designed to prevent Donald Trump from getting impatient and angry.