Kremlin says 2022 Ukrainian law bans Zelenskyy from talks with Putin

Neither Ukrainian nor Western officials have recently mentioned the presidential decree, signed seven months after Russia’s cross-border invasion, in the context of US President Donald Trump’s efforts to stop the fighting

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. File picture: Jose Luis Magana/AP

A Ukrainian decree from 2022 ruling out negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin raises the question of who could sit at the table in potential peace talks aimed at ending the two countries’ three-year war, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy “is still legally prohibited from negotiating with the Russian side”, Mr Peskov noted during his daily conference call with reporters.