Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed today, Sunday, that Russia is ready to end the conflict in Ukraine peacefully and is open to dialogue regarding peace, but there are no signs that Kyiv and the West want that. In an interview on the "Russia-1" television channel, he stated, "I do not know, does the West want to do this today [a peace dialogue regarding Ukraine]? I hope so, I have already said that we are open to dialogue."
Putin noted that "the people of Donbas resorted to Russia as a guarantor," adding, "Even before we moved from peaceful means of settlement to means of a military nature, we sought to end this conflict peacefully, and in Istanbul, we agreed on settlement criteria." He emphasized that "if it were not for the West's position, the war would have ended a year and a half ago, but the authorities in Kyiv did not want that. I do not know if they want that today?" He reiterated his readiness for dialogue.
Putin stated that "Russia agreed to the Minsk agreements because it relied on the integrity of its partners" and tried to implement them, regardless of how difficult it was for both sides—whether for Ukraine or Donbas. He explained that he was thinking "about how we can convince the people living in Donbas to agree to these agreements; we believed that it was possible." He pointed out that "the other side did not intend to do that. The current leadership of Ukraine has declared through its top official that it dislikes any aspect of these Minsk agreements."
