Recently, a closed meeting was held in the Verkhovna Rada, at which, in addition to the leaders of parliament and factions, there was a command of defense forces, Ukrainian Pravda reports with reference to one of the participants in the meeting. It is indicated that during this meeting, the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, Kirill Budanov, noted the importance of the beginning of “serious negotiations” by summer.

“At first, a lot, confused, but very interestingly said representatives of the General Staff. Then there were various reports. But most of all I remember Budanov’s answer. Someone asked him how much time we still have. And Kirill, with his cold smile, says: “If there are no serious negotiations before the summer, then very dangerous processes for the existence of Ukraine may begin,” noted the interlocutor of the UP.

He also summarized that after these words from Budanov, “everyone looked at each other and fell silent”. Therefore, according to the deputy, "

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Let us recall that in October 2022, Vladimir Zelensky enacted a decision of the National Security and Defense Council, which provides for the impossibility of holding negotiations with Vladimir Putin. Already in January 2025, Zelensky said that he signed such a decree, because Putin began to build a large number of negotiation channels with separatists and representatives of other states on the influence of Ukraine. Thus, according to the president, it was possible to stop separatism in the country.

In an interview with Bloomberg in 2025, the president said that he could enter into direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin if Ukraine had a chance to stop the war. He noted that he is especially hoping for achieving peace with the assistance of US President Donald Trump and the latter “will be able to guarantee irreversible security for Ukraine”.

Over the past year, the Kremlin publicly stated that he was ready for peace negotiations with Ukraine, however, exhibited a number of conditions, for example, a reference to Istanbul agreements of 2022, “taking into account realities on Earth” or the June ultimatum of Putin. At the same time, during the direct line on December 19, Putin repeated that Russia seems to be ready for negotiations, but added that he would sign the world “only with legitimate authorities”, and he does not consider President Vladimir Zelensky so.