Putin says ready for talks with Kyiv amid tensions

• Putin claims lost Ukrainian territories are historically Russian lands
• He dismisses Zelenskyy's offer to trade land for peace as inappropriate
• Russia and US agree to resume trilateral talks to discuss security

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the territories lost by Ukraine during the ongoing war are "historically Russian lands" as he dismissed Kyiv's claims of land lost during the conflict as inappropriate. Speaking to Russian news outlet Censor.NET reports, just days after his meeting with Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, Putin said that Moscow is "still" ready to negotiate and seek solutions to the war because these are people very close to us.

Responding after Zelenskyy's remarks that he was ready to accept the loss of some land in want of peace in the region, Putin said that his Ukrainian counterpart's statements were inappropriate.

"First of all, my view of the matter is that this is not their territory. Historically, it is Russia's territory," said Putin.

The Russian President also claimed that people living in these territories voted, first, for state independence and, as a second step, voted for reunification with the Russian Federation. "So I think it is inappropriate to talk about any territorial losses."

In another statement, Putin said that Russia is still ready to negotiate and seek solutions to what he described was a difficult and complicated situation in Ukraine.

Speaking to Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin, Putin-who recently held extensive talks with US negotiators Steve Witkoff, said that Russia and US had agreed to resume trilateral contacts.

"I think we can reach an agreement... But if someone wants it differently, fine, it will be different. But in any case, we will achieve our objectives, and all the goals of the special military operation will be achieved. Regarding our talks with the US administration representative, yes, we agreed that we are ready to resume our trilateral contacts. The goal of these talks will be to discuss ensuring the security of Ukraine and Russia after the conclusion of a final peace agreement, not as a result of a brief suspension of hostilities. We are ready to resume these contacts to achieve this goal," Putin said.

"The US administration representative emphasized that if we are to discuss issues related to ensuring future security for both Ukraine and Russia, then, naturally, we will also need to discuss the European security architecture as a whole. And I agree with this. Well, we'll see how the situation develops in the coming days," he added.

Putin claimed that Russia always advocated for a peaceful resolution while it was Ukraine that had unleashed a war.

"Well, what can I say? The latest genetic studies show that Russians and Ukrainians are, in fact, one people. Fine, some people want to think differently. All right, we accept that. That is how Russia’s history has unfolded; those are today’s realities. But agreement can be reached on everything," Putin said during the interview.