A senior adviser to Ukraine's president said on Monday that Kyiv had never refused to negotiate with Moscow and that it was ready for talks with Russia's future leader, but not with Vladimir Putin.
The comments on Twitter by Mykhailo Podolyak followed a Washington Post report on Saturday saying the Biden administration was privately encouraging Ukraine's leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Moscow.
We will talk with the next leader of Russia.
"Ukraine has never refused to negotiate. Our negotiating position is known and open," he wrote on Twitter, saying that Russia should first withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
"Is Putin ready? Obviously not. Therefore, we are constructive in our assessment: we will talk with the next leader of (Russia)."
The paper quoted unnamed people familiar with the discussions as saying that the request by American officials was not aimed at pushing Ukraine to the negotiating table, but a calculated attempt to ensure Kyiv maintains the support of other nations facing constituencies wary of fuelling a war for many years to come.
It said the discussions illustrated the complexity of the Biden administration’s position on Ukraine, as US officials publicly vow to support Kyiv with massive sums of aid "for as long as it takes" while hoping for a resolution to the eight-month conflict that has taken a big toll on the world economy and triggered fears of nuclear war.
