The Kremlin has said its war aims in Ukraine remain unchanged, one week before a US deadline for Moscow to agree a ceasefire with Kyiv or face “severe” tariffs that would affect its own exports and major trading partners such as China and India.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said he was in favour of peace talks and a negotiated final settlement with Kyiv, but only if terms that he laid out last year were satisfied, referring to his demand that Ukraine give up five regions and its Nato membership ambitions, and accept other limitations on its sovereignty.
“These conditions certainly remain the same. These are not conditions, but goals, I formulated Russia’s goals,” Mr Putin said during a meeting on Friday with Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally.
The veteran autocrats spoke on a wooden bench in open-necked shirts on Valaam island on Lake Ladoga near St Petersburg, in what appeared to be an attempt to portray Mr Putin as a mild-mannered and conciliatory figure.
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“We need a lasting and stable peace on solid foundations that would satisfy both Russia and Ukraine, and would ensure the security of both countries,” Mr Putin said – but Kyiv has already rejected his demands as being tantamount to capitulation.
Mr Putin and Mr Lukashenko met a day after a Russian missile and drone strike on Kyiv killed at least 31 civilians, including five children, and wounded more than 150 others. The attack prompted US president Donald Trump to describe Russia’s actions in Ukraine as “disgusting”.
Mr Trump this week gave Russia until August 8th to agree a ceasefire with Ukraine or face penalties on its exports to the US and – much more significantly – see the US impose heavy tariffs on imports from countries that buy Russian oil energy.
China and India are the two biggest purchasers of Russian oil, which Moscow often sells at a heavy discount to keep revenue flowing into its war chest almost three-and-a-half years into its full-scale invasion of pro-western Ukraine.
“Negotiations are always needed and always important,” Mr Putin said, adding that Russia “could wait” if Ukraine did not want to reach a deal now.
He also brushed off Mr Trump’s recent complaints that he is “very disappointed” by the Kremlin’s refusal to end the war.
“As for disappointments on anyone’s part – all disappointments come from excessive expectations,” Mr Putin said. “But to reach a resolution peacefully, there must be substantive conversations – not in public – but done calmly, in the quiet of the negotiation process.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy responded to Mr Putin’s comments by repeating a call for a leaders’ summit. Kyiv has already agreed to stick to a US-proposed ceasefire if Moscow also halts hostilities.
“We have heard the statements coming out of Russia. If these are signals of a genuine willingness to end the war with dignity and establish a truly lasting peace – and not merely an attempt to buy more time for war or delay sanctions – then Ukraine once again reaffirms its readiness to meet at the level of leaders at any time,” he said.
“We understand who makes the decisions in Russia and who must end this war,” he added. “Ukraine calls for ... talks between leaders.”
Mr Putin mixed his calls for continued lower-level negotiations with boasts about what he claimed were more Russian military gains in eastern Ukraine, and the start of regular production of a new ballistic missile called Oreshnik.
Mr Lukashenko was full of praise for Mr Putin and Russia’s forces, which he said would “bite off, seize and go further” through Ukrainian territory.
“They will return it,” Mr Putin told him. “It is ours.”
