The Russian president considers the possibility of opening a dialogue channel with Kyiv following the temporary ceasefire during Orthodox Easter.
Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on Monday that he is willing to study Ukraine’s proposal to suspend attacks on civilian infrastructure for 30 days and even suggested that the matter could be addressed bilaterally, according to reports from state media.
“This must be studied. All of this has to be examined thoroughly, perhaps bilaterally,” Putin said, adding that the Kremlin “will analyze it and make an appropriate decision for the future.”
Later, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov clarified that Putin’s offer specifically referred to negotiations with the Ukrainian government. “When the president said that the issue of not attacking civilian targets could be addressed—even bilaterally—he was specifically referring to contacts with Ukraine,” he explained.
Peskov emphasized that the Russian president “has repeatedly expressed his willingness to negotiate with Ukraine.” According to the spokesperson, this latest statement represents “another one of his proposals” to move toward a resolution of the conflict.
Putin also confirmed that the unilateral ceasefire declared by Moscow over the Orthodox Easter weekend has ended. He indicated that the truce was intended to assess Kyiv’s “sincerity” regarding potential peace talks.
During the ceasefire period, the Russian president said that Ukrainian military activity had decreased, although he also claimed that Russian forces recorded up to 5,000 shots fired from Ukraine’s defensive systems, mostly targeting drones. “In general, there was a reduction in activity. We are pleased by that and are willing to look toward the future,” he stated.
Putin defended the legitimacy of strikes on seemingly civilian facilities, arguing that such locations also serve military purposes. He cited the April 13 missile strike on the Sumi University conference center, where 36 people were killed. According to him, a ceremony was being held there to decorate individuals involved in “crimes in the Kursk region,” a Russian border area subject to Ukrainian operations.
“Is that a civilian facility or not? It is civilian, but a decoration ceremony was being held there for those who committed crimes in the Kursk region (…). These are people we consider criminals,” he argued.
He also mentioned recent strikes on agricultural infrastructure in Odesa, allegedly used to manufacture missiles, and on a restaurant where, according to the Kremlin, Ukrainian military personnel or armed collaborators were present. “These are civilian facilities being used for military purposes,” he asserted.
Putin accused the Ukrainian government of seeking to reclaim eastern regions of the country for economic reasons. “They did only one thing there—plundering resources and money from those territories and from those people. They were stealing money,” he said, adding that these funds remain stored in “foreign bank accounts.”
According to the Russian president, the main motivation of the Ukrainian authorities is “to give everything to their sponsors” in exchange for international support. He estimated that these are “accounts with billions of dollars” and claimed that “they continue to steal to this day.”
Finally, he warned that some of the weapons sent to Ukraine by Western powers have ended up on the black market, reappearing in regions such as Africa and the Middle East. “They continue to steal to this day,” he concluded.
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