Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said the main condition for the resumption of negotiations with Moscow would be the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity, the Reuters news agency reported.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a tweet a day earlier that "Ukraine has never refused to negotiate" with Russia and was ready for talks with "the next leader of the Russian Federation," but not with President Vladimir Putin.
Podolyak was quoted as saying in an interview published on Tuesday that "negotiating with Putin would mean giving up, and we would never give him this gift."
"The Russian army will leave Ukrainian territory, and then dialogue will come," Podolyak said in an interview with Italy's La Repubblica newspaper, as quoted by Reuters.
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that US officials were privately encouraging Ukraine's leaders to signal an openness to negotiate.
According to Reuters, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has been engaged in confidential talks with senior Russian officials to lower the risk of a broader war over Ukraine.
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters
