The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying he was ready for direct talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as "empty words". A decree signed by Zelensky in 2022 rules out direct talks with Putin -- something Peskov pointed to on Wednesday and that Moscow regularly highlights when asked if it is ready for talks with Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said in the interview that the Russia-Ukraine war has killed 5,100 people and injured 390,000 others and estimated that Moscow’s losses stood at 350,000 dead with “many” Russians missing in

The Kremlin said on Monday it was too early to discuss a potential four-way peace talks format proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and restated its concerns about his electoral mandate.

"So far this cannot be seen as anything but empty words," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, after Zelensky said in an interview that he would agree to sit at a negotiating table with Putin.

The Kremlin on Wednesday (February 5, 2025) dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's statement that he was ready for direct talks with Russian counterpart Vladmir Putin to end fighting as "empty words".

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Zelensky said he is willing to engage in direct talks with Putin "if that is the only setup in which we can bring peace to the citizens of Ukraine..." "I will not be kind to him.

In an interview published on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president said that he would be willing to sit at the negotiating table with his Russian counterpart, if that was the only to "bring peace to the citizens of Ukraine and not lose people.