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.

He said it was “positive” that Mr Zelenskyy had expressed readiness on Tuesday to negotiate peace with Russia as soon as possible.

“But the details have not changed yet,” Mr Peskov added, apparently referring to the Ukrainian decree.

Neither Ukrainian nor Western officials have recently mentioned the September 2022 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.

On Monday, the Trump administration suspended all military aid to Ukraine as the United States sought to pressure Zelenskyy into negotiating an end to the war. It was not immediately clear whether the support would resume after Mr Zelenskyy’s seeming effort to placate Mr Trump.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an annual extended meeting of the Russian Interior Ministry Board in Moscow. File picture: AP

Ukrainian forces are toiling to slow advances by the bigger Russian army along the 600-mile front line, especially in the eastern Donetsk region. The Russian onslaught, which has been costly for its troops, hasn’t yet brought a strategically significant breakthrough for the Kremlin.

The war of attrition has killed tens of thousands of soldiers and more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians.

Mr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer could travel together to Washington, the French government spokesperson said.

“It is envisaged that President Macron could eventually travel again to Washington with President Zelenskyy and his British counterpart,” spokesperson Sophie Primas told reporters.

Mr Macron was due to give a televised address to the nation later on Wednesday about what he called the “great uncertainty” in global affairs.

The three leaders travelled separately to Washington last week for meetings with Mr Trump.

In the early months of the war, Mr Zelenskyy repeatedly called for a personal meeting with Mr Putin but was rebuffed. After the Kremlin’s decision in September 2022 to illegally annexe four regions of Ukraine – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – Mr Zelenskyy enacted a decree declaring that holding negotiations with Putin had become impossible.

The decree enacted a decision by Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council to bolster Ukrainian defences and seek more weapons from the country’s Western allies.

The Kremlin said at the time it would wait for Ukraine to sit down for talks on ending the conflict, noting that such a step may not happen until a new Ukrainian president takes office.