Russia says ‘ready’ for talks with Ukraine, but needs time to ‘analyse’ Trump’s 50-day ultimatum

The Kremlin on Tuesday (Jul 15) said that it needs time to respond to US President Donald Trump following his 50-day ultimatum given to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war. It added that it was ready for fresh talks with Kyiv. This comes a day after Trump expressed frustration with Russia and gave them a 50-day deadline to strike a peace deal or risk facing sanctions. The US president also laid out an arrangement with NATO to supply new military aid to Kyiv, sponsored by the allied nations.

“President Trump’s statement is very serious. We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow’s first reaction to the comments.

Trump warned that if a deal was not concluded within the deadline, he would announce “very severe tariffs” on Russia’s trade partners to obstruct Moscow’s ability to finance the war.

Peskov added that Russia was still ready to negotiate and was “waiting for proposals from the Ukrainian side on the timing of the third round of direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations.”

Russia-Ukraine talks fail to reach breakthrough

In recent months, two rounds of peace talks have been held between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey. However, the negotiations failed to reach a breakthrough to end the conflict, which is now in its fourth year.

Putin has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine as Russian troops have continued the military operation. Several drone and missile strikes in Ukraine have resulted in the killing of civilians in recent weeks.

Russia maintains ‘readiness’

“We maintain our readiness,” Peskov said, suggesting that Trump’s statement could embolden Kyiv and hamper peace efforts.

“It seems that such a decision made in Washington and in NATO countries and directly in Brussels will be perceived by Kyiv not as a signal for peace but for the continuation of the war,” he added.

Ukraine says talks ‘pointless’

Meanwhile, Ukraine has said that holding talks with the current Russian delegation is “pointless”, saying it lacks any mandate to make a compromise and has failed to accept demands in the two rounds of talks that happened recently.