The outgoing Biden administration will support Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky if he decides to enter negotiations with Russia to resolve the conflict, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday.
"If President Zelensky decides that he wants to go into negotiations, of course that's something that we will support. That has been our long-standing policy," Miller said.
The official added that it is up to Zelensky to decide when it is time for negotiations with Russia on peace settlement and not for the US or any other countries.
"And we will support him in any process of trying to ensure a just and lasting peace. But this is ultimately his decision, not ours," Miller stressed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly said that his country is open to holding negotiations with Ukraine. The president noted that in 2022, Moscow and Kiev managed to reach mutually beneficial agreements and solve complex issues, but Ukraine itself ceased the dialogue at the West's instructions.
He revealed that Kiev, in exchange for security guarantees, agreed to limit the size of the armed forces, not to deploy a foreign military contingent and to refuse exercises. He underscored that weapon supplies to Ukraine from the West exacerbate the situation and only prolong the conflict.
In June, Putin put forward initiatives for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine: Moscow will immediately cease fire and declare its readiness for negotiations after the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the territory of new regions of Russia. In addition, the Russian leader added, Kiev must declare its renunciation of its intentions to join NATO; it must carry out demilitarization and denazification, and also adopt a neutral, non-aligned and non-nuclear status.
Putin also mentioned in this context the lifting of sanctions against the Russian Federation.
After the terrorist attack of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the Kursk region, Putin called it impossible to negotiate with those who "indiscriminately strike at civilians, at civilian infrastructure or try to create threats to nuclear power facilities."
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov later said that Moscow's peaceful proposals for a Ukrainian settlement, voiced earlier, have not been canceled, but at this stage, "given this adventure," Russia will not talk to Ukraine.
As the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov stated, no serious proposals for settling the Ukrainian conflict have yet been received; information on this topic appears in Western media "like a jack-in-the-box."