Kremlin Says Putin Is Ready To Talk To Trump, But There Is No Change About Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. (Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru)

JAKARTA - President Vladimir Putin is ready to discuss Ukraine with US elected president Donald Trump, but that doesn't mean he is willing to change Moscow's demands, the Kremlin said on Friday.

That was said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, after being asked at his daily press conference whether Putin's readiness to speak with the elected Republican president reflected the willingness to change those demands.

"The president has never said that the purpose of special military operations has changed. On the other hand, he has repeatedly said that the goal remains the same," Peskov said.

"All of this concerns the security interests of our country, the security interests of the Russian people who live there. Therefore, there is no talk of any changes here," he stressed.

Earlier, President Putin on June 14 set his terms to end the war: Ukraine must stop its NATO ambitions and withdraw all troops from the entire territory of the four regions claimed by Russia.

Ukraine rejects it, saying it is tantamount to surrendering. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has submitted a " winning plan" that includes requests for additional military support from the West.

Meanwhile, Trump during the campaign criticized the US military and financial support scale for Kyiv, saying he could end the war within 24 hours, without saying how.

President Zelensky has congratulated Trump, but said he doesn't know how America plans to end the conflict quickly.

"If it's just fast, it means a loss to Ukraine. I don't understand how this happened in any other way. Maybe we don't know anything, don't see it," he said on Thursday.

President Putin on Thursday congratulated Trump for his victory in the US election, praising him for showing courage when an armed man tried to kill him in July, and saying Moscow was ready to have a dialogue with Trump. He said Trump's comments on efforts to end the war deserve attention.

Trump himself told NBC he had not spoken to Putin since his win in the general election, but "I think we will speak".

When asked about possible phone calls between the two men, Peskov said nothing was concrete yet to report, and it was too early to talk about improving Russia-US relations.

However, President Putin has explained many times that he remains open to dialogue, he said.