During a joint press interaction with Alexander Lukashenko on Valaam, Vladimir Putin stated that the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war should ensure the security of all parties involved in the conflict.
«We need a long-lasting and stable peace on solid foundational grounds that would satisfy both Russia and Ukraine, ensuring the security of both countries. And, perhaps, those negotiators from the Ukrainian side are right, who cautiously, by the way, but still put forward the idea that maybe we should talk about European security as a whole», — Putin told journalists.
At the same time, commenting on the situation around the city of Chasov Yar in the Donetsk region, which the Russian Ministry of Defense recently reported capturing, he stated that Russia «is not seizing foreign territory, but returning its own».
Answering a question about Donald Trump's «disappointment», Putin explained it as «excessive expectations. «To approach resolving the issue peacefully, detailed discussions are needed ... and not in public, but calmly, in the quiet of the negotiation process», — he stated.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky responded to Putin via social media, noting that Kyiv hears Moscow's statements. According to him, «if this is a signal of their serious readiness to end the war», then Ukraine «confirms its readiness to meet at the leadership level at any time».
«We understand who makes the decisions in Russia and who should end this war. The whole world understands this too. Ukraine proposes moving from exchanging statements and meetings at the technical level to the level of leader conversations. America proposed this. Ukraine supported it. Russia's readiness is needed», — wrote the Ukrainian president in his Telegram channel.