Kremlin Responds to Claims of Ukraine Talks With Trump

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that talks were not underway between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former U.S. President Donald Trump on possible conditions for peace in the Russia-Ukraine war.

When questioned on the matter, Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesperson, told reporters, "No, that's not true," reported Tass, Russia's state-run news agency.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee challenging Democratic President Joe Biden, has said repeatedly that if reelected, he would swiftly bring an end to the war in Ukraine by speaking with Putin.

"I will have that war settled between Putin and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky as president-elect before I take office on January 20. I'll have that war settled," Trump said on June 27 during a debate with Biden, adding, "I'll get it settled fast, before I take office."

The next U.S. presidential election is scheduled for November 5.

In January 2023, Trump said he would be successful in negotiating an end to the war "within 24 hours."

"IF I WERE PRESIDENT, THE RUSSIA/UKRAINE WAR WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED, BUT EVEN NOW, IF PRESIDENT, I WOULD BE ABLE TO NEGOTIATE AN END TO THIS HORRIBLE AND RAPIDLY ESCALATING WAR WITHIN 24 HOURS," Trump wrote at the time in an all-caps Truth Social post. "SUCH A TRAGIC WASTE OF HUMAN LIFE!!!"

The prospect of peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow has been raised multiple times since Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Kremlin has specified a few conditions Russia considers nonnegotiable, including that Ukraine must accept the September 2022 annexation of four of its regions—Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia—following referendums called by Putin that were deemed illegal by the international community.

On June 14, Putin said Ukraine must also renounce any plans to join the NATO military alliance.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has said that any peace deal must invalidate the September 2022 annexations of its territory, and that the Crimean Peninsula, which Putin annexed in 2014, must once again be considered part of Ukraine.

Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's chief of staff, told reporters on Tuesday that Ukraine was not prepared to concede any territory to end the conflict.

"But we [are] not ready to go to the compromise for the very important things and values … independence, freedom, democracy, territorial integrity, sovereignty," he said.

Trump said during his debate with Biden that he believed Putin's terms were "not acceptable." He added: "But look, this is a war that never should have started if we had a leader in this war."

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