Putin Tells EU's Michel Ukraine 'Inconsistent' at Peace Talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the Ukrainian side of being “inconsistent” in negotiation, the Kremlin revealed on Friday.

During a phone call with European Council President Charles Michel, Putin affirmed that he would only hold direct talks with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy if ongoing discussions between the two countries produce concrete results.

On his part, Michel admonished the Russian invasion of Ukraine, stressing that there is no way to accept this ongoing war.

An EU official said Michel "detailed the sanction costs the EU is imposing on Russia for its wilful aggression and breach of international law, recalled the EU’s unwavering support to Ukraine and its territorial integrity.”

Michel “equally shared with [Putin] his reading of Russia’s miscalculations and losses, in part to penetrate the information vacuum that may exist around [Putin],” the EU official said.

On Thursday, the Kremlin claimed that Zelenskyy did not respond to Russia’s latest written proposal for peace talks between the two sides.

“I repeat once again, as I said yesterday, our formulations, in fact, the latest version, were handed to our opponents, to the Ukrainian negotiating delegation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

However, Zelenskyy asserted that he had not seen or heard about the text the Kremlin said it had sent.

Peskov said the Kremlin was aware of Zelenskiy’s comment, “which also raises certain questions about why no one is reporting to President Zelenskiy about our versions of the text.”