Ukrainian law still prevents Zelenskyy-Putin peace talks, says Kremlin

Neither Ukrainian nor Western officials have recently addressed the September 2022 presidential decree, signed seven months after Russia’s invasion, in the context of US President Donald Trump’s push to halt the fighting.

The Trump administration on Monday suspended critical military aid to Ukraine in an effort to pressure Zelenskyy into negotiations. It remains unclear whether support will resume following Zelenskyy’s apparent effort to appease Trump.

Zelenskyy’s past calls for dialogue

In the early months of the war, Zelenskyy repeatedly called for a direct meeting with Putin, but those requests were rejected. Following the Kremlin’s decision in September 2022 to illegally annex four Ukrainian regions—Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia—Zelenskyy signed a decree declaring negotiations with Putin impossible.

The decree enacted a decision by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council to strengthen the country’s defenses and seek additional weapons from Western allies.

At the time, the Kremlin said it would wait for Ukraine to agree to talks, as per AP, but suggested such negotiations might not take place until a new Ukrainian president takes office.

Ongoing war

Ukrainian forces continue to hold off Russian advances along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, with particularly intense battles in the eastern Donetsk region, reported AP. The ongoing war has resulted in tens of thousands of soldier casualties and over 12,000 Ukrainian civilian deaths.

(With inputs from AP)

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