Putin says US needs to force Kiev to negotiating table

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Moscow was ready for talks to end the conflict in Ukraine, but said Kiev was not prepared to sit down at the negotiating table.

"It's not a question about us, we are ready for negotiations. But the leaders in Kiev decided not to continue negotiations with Russia," Putin told the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow.

"It is very easy to solve this problem if Washington gives a signal to Kiev to change its position and solve the problem peacefully," he added.

There have been no peace talks between the two since attempts at a negotiated settlement fell apart in the first weeks of the conflict, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has explicitly ruled out a negotiated deal with Putin.