Both the Kremlin and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine suggested this week that they would be open to direct negotiations, making new but tentative diplomatic overtures as President Trump pushes for a peace deal.
Mr. Zelensky said on social media late Monday that Ukraine was “ready for any conversation” about a cease-fire that would halt strikes on civilian infrastructure. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said on Tuesday that there were “nuances” in the Ukrainian proposal “that it makes sense to discuss” with Kyiv.
While Mr. Peskov said there were no concrete plans yet for direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv, the unusual public back-and-forth showed how both sides in the three-year war now seem eager to at least appear interested in negotiations — not least because of Mr. Trump’s eagerness for a deal to end the war.
The American diplomatic push is expected to continue on Wednesday in London, where Mr. Zelensky said a Ukrainian delegation would meet with U.S. and European officials. Steve Witkoff, a White House envoy who has met with President Vladimir V. Putin three times since February, is expected to visit Moscow again later this week, the Russian state news agency Tass reported.
Mr. Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday that he hoped Russia and Ukraine “will make a deal this week,” adding that the United States stood to “make a fortune” as a result. Last week, in a sign of his impatience, the president had warned that if either Moscow or Kyiv “makes it very difficult” to reach a deal to end the war, the United States could decide that “we’re just going to take a pass.”
The emerging possibility of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine has added a new vector to the diplomatic maneuvering. The warring sides haven’t held public peace talks since the early weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, though they have engaged behind the scenes, often through intermediaries.
Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly exchanged prisoners since the war began, including a swap of more than 500 soldiers last Saturday. Last summer, Moscow and Kyiv were quietly negotiating a moratorium on strikes against each other’s energy infrastructure, with Qatar as a mediator — a deal that fell apart after Ukraine’s cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
The new suggestion of bilateral talks came after Mr. Putin unexpectedly declared a 30-hour cease-fire over the Easter weekend. Both sides accused each other of violating the temporary truce, but also confirmed that the intensity of the fighting did decline.
On Sunday, Mr. Zelensky proposed a monthlong cease-fire in which both sides would “cease any strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure.”
“There were no air raid alerts on Easter, and some sectors of the front line remained quiet,” Mr. Zelensky wrote in a social media post on Monday that reiterated the proposal. “This proves it is possible — it’s possible when Russia chooses to reduce the killing.”
Mr. Putin responded later on Monday in remarks to reporters, saying that further discussion was needed about how to define a civilian target, “possibly in a bilateral format.” Mr. Peskov followed up to clarify that “the president specifically meant negotiations and discussions with the Ukrainian side.”
The back-and-forth followed Ukraine’s offer last month for a monthlong, unconditional cease-fire — a proposal that came out of U.S.-mediated talks. Russia, which believes the battlefield momentum is on its side, responded by asking for concessions before it would halt fighting.
Mr. Putin’s comment about a potential moratorium on striking civilian targets was an unusually specific invitation for direct talks with Ukraine, and went beyond the Kremlin’s frequent rhetoric claiming that Russia is open to negotiations.
“President Putin has repeatedly talked about his readiness to resolve issues through negotiations,” Mr. Peskov said Tuesday. “This was another repetition of this readiness.”
But Russia’s continued bombardment of Ukraine told a different story.
A flurry of exploding drones or missiles hit several Ukrainian cities overnight and through the day on Tuesday, the local authorities said, setting buildings and cars on fire. Ukraine does not report successful strikes on military sites.
In the Black Sea port city of Odesa, three people were wounded when drones struck a residential neighborhood overnight, according to the city government. Overnight strikes also damaged six houses and four cars near Kyiv, the capital, local officials said.
Later on Tuesday, strikes in Zaporizhzhia in the country’s south and Kharkiv in the north killed one person and wounded another 22, including several children, according to a governor and a mayor.
Andrew E. Kramer contributed reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine.
Anton Troianovski is the Moscow bureau chief for The Times. He writes about Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
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