MOSCOW, Feb 5, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - 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".

Talk of a negotiated end to the nearly three-year conflict has risen with 
Donald Trump -- who has pledged to end the fighting -- back in the White 
House and Ukraine's troops struggling on the battlefield in the east.

Asked how he would feel if he sat opposite Putin at a negotiating table, 
Zelensky told British journalist Piers Morgan in an interview published 
Tuesday: "If that is the only set-up in which we can bring peace to the 
citizens of Ukraine and not lose people, definitely we will go for this set-
up."

"So far this cannot be seen as anything but empty words," Kremlin spokesman 
Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Putin last week said Moscow would hold talks with Ukraine, but ruled out 
speaking directly to Zelensky.

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.

The Kremlin spokesman also reiterated Russia's frequent claim that Zelensky 
is not a legitimate president, as his five-year mandate in office expired 
last year.

Under martial law, Ukraine has a ban on holding elections.

"Zelensky has big problems de jure (legally) in Ukraine. But even despite 
that we remain ready for talks," Peskov said.

Zelensky told Morgan he would be ready for talks with Putin involving "four 
participants", after the interviewer raised the possibility of talks between 
Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the US.

The Kremlin spokesman said that the "reality on the ground says that Kyiv has 
to be the first to demonstrate openness and interest in such talks", 
apparently referring to recent Russian military advances.

- 'Clear ultimatum' -

After the interview, Zelensky posted comments Wednesday on social media 
saying that talks with Putin in themselves would be a "compromise" for 
Ukraine and its allies.

"Putin is a murderer and a terrorist. This is a fact," he said, in comments 
live-translated into English.

"And if our allies believe that diplomacy is the way forward, let's be 
honest: isn't even a single conversation with Putin a compromise? Talking to 
a murderer is a compromise for Ukraine and the entire civilised world."

Zelensky also said Putin "will only understand the need to end this war if he 
is given a clear ultimatum" by the United States, and that the "power to 
shape that peace depends on President Trump".

Peskov on Wednesday said contact with the new US administration had 
"intensified" but gave no indication of when a possible meeting or call 
between Putin and Trump could take place.

"There are indeed contacts between individual departments, and recently they 
have intensified," he said.

Peskov also slammed Zelensky for suggesting that Ukraine should be allowed to 
have a nuclear deterrent if it is unable to join NATO.

Zelensky had said Ukraine would need an alternative "package" of protection, 
including nuclear weapons, if it cannot join NATO or the process drags on.

"Let's put it this way: give us nuclear weapons back, give us strong missile 
systems, partners, help us fund a million-man army," Zelensky said.

Peskov said that "such statements are bordering on madness", citing 
international rules on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Kyiv has struggled to hold back Russian forces and Zelensky conceded in his 
interview with Morgan that Ukraine is unlikely to get back some of the 
territory it lost to Russia.

"Regrettably, the support that is provided by our partners is insufficient to 
push Putin fully out of our territories," he said.

Russia on Wednesday said its troops took two more Ukrainian villages in the 
country's east and north-east as the conflict nears the end of its third 
year.

Moscow's defence ministry said the army had captured the village of Baranivka 
in the eastern Donetsk region and Novomlynsk in the north-eastern Kharkiv 
region, where Russian forces have crossed the Oskil River that previously 
formed the front line and established a bridgehead.