Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that Ukraine could be placed under a form of interim international administration to allow for elections and the signing of key agreements.
The long-term goal of such an administration would be to reach a solution to end the war, Putin said during a visit to the Northern Fleet in Murmansk on March 28, Russian news agencies reported.
"This is just one of the options. I'm not saying there aren't others," Putin said, speaking after talks in Paris on how to strengthen Ukraine's position on and off the battlefields.
The idea could be implemented "under the auspices of the UN, the US, alongside European countries" and with Russia's "partners and friends", he pointed out.
The goal would be to "hold democratic elections and bring to power a capable government that enjoys the trust of the people, and then begin negotiations with them on a peace agreement," he said.
Putin has long complained that the Ukrainian authorities are not a legitimate negotiating partner, as President Volodymyr Zelensky has remained in power after his five-year term expired.
There are no elections under martial law.
Elections were supposed to be held in May 2024, but under Ukrainian law, Zelensky remains president until new ones are held.
However, the elections cannot be held under the state of war, which has been in place since Russia began its invasion in February 2022.
Putin reiterated that he considers the current Ukrainian government illegitimate and therefore opposes signing any documents with Kiev.
He also expressed Russia's readiness for a peaceful solution, saying that Russia is "persistently and surely moving towards achieving all the goals set out at the beginning" of the Russian invasion.
"There are reasons to believe that we will achieve them," he stressed.
He said he believed that US President Donald Trump sincerely wanted to end the conflict, and Trump's push for direct talks between US and Russian negotiators showed that Trump wanted peace.
There was no reaction from Ukraine to Putin's latest statements.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was too early to expect high-level negotiations with Russia.
"A lot of work needs to be done on both sides, especially with the Russian side, who we haven't spoken to in years," Rubio said Thursday.
When asked how long it would take to make progress, he said: "I simply cannot put a timeframe on it because it is not up to us."
French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted a summit of leaders of the "coalition of the willing" on Thursday, said they were now more united over Ukraine than ever before and must ensure they were able to counter what he described as Russia's plan to drag out the negotiation process so Moscow could seize more territory.
"Our goal is clear," Macron told a news conference after a summit attended by leaders of 27 countries. "It is to achieve peace - and to achieve that, we must put Ukraine in the best possible position."
The summit discussed the possible use of European forces in Ukraine as a supplement to a future ceasefire or peace agreement.
"There will be forces providing guarantees in Ukraine, representing several countries," Macron said.
He added that there is currently no unanimity about sending a European Union-led force.
The French president said the foreign ministers of the coalition countries had been tasked with considering specific legal issues related to any European-led persuasion force and to report back in three weeks.
Whether the plan will result in a deployment of forces or be integrated into diplomatic negotiations led by Washington remains to be seen.
Peace talks in Saudi Arabia
After the summit, Zelensky said that everyone understood that Russia was not looking for peace and added that work on security guarantees would continue in the coming days and weeks.
Earlier this week, separate US talks with Kiev and Moscow in Saudi Arabia led to the announcement of a deal that the White House called a ceasefire in the Black Sea and an agreement "on developing measures to implement" their commitments to halt attacks on energy facilities.
However, Russia is also demanding a number of conditions that must be met before it can begin to adhere to the Black Sea agreement, including easing sanctions.
Macron said after the summit in Paris that he intended to speak with Trump and praised recent American diplomacy.
Later on March 27, Trump advisor Elon Musk told Fox News that he believed a negotiated peace would be reached to end the war.
"For the last two years, thousands of people have been dying every week for no reason. Why?" said Musk, one of Trump's closest advisors.
He said he has "contempt" for people who want to continue the war.
When asked if he was optimistic that Trump's plan to end the war would work, Musk said the plan was the only thing that would work.
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