US ‘pushes Kyiv on peace talks’

US officials are said to have been quietly pressing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to reconsider peace negotiations with Russia this winter.

Mr Zelensky has signed a decree banning any talks with Vladimir Putin but left the door open to future discussions with Russia.

Kyiv and Moscow held six rounds of peace talks up until the end of March which ended without a settlement. On Monday, Mr Zelensky laid out his conditions for ‘genuine peace talks’ aimed at ending the war, including prosecuting Russian ‘war criminals’ and restoring Ukraine’s ‘territorial integrity’.

Yesterday, Valery Solovey, a Russian political commentator, claimed Putin had been offered surrender terms by the West, including that Russia gives up all territory in Ukraine apart from Crimea, which would become a demilitarised zone. In return, Putin would avoid criminal charges and be allowed to remain in power.