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Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of “sabotaging” negotiations between the two countries.
The Kremlin cited comments made in a 45-minute-long phone call with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Friday.
Russia’s leader pledged to meet its natural gas delivery commitments and said that he was ready to discuss a prisoner swap with Ukraine.
Russia said it had reaffirmed its commitment to comply with contractual obligations on natural gas supplies to Austria; the country gets 80% of its gas from Russia.
UKRAINE NEEDS TO FACE REALITY TO END CONFLICT, TALK TO PUTIN: ZELENSKYY
Nehammer said Putin had also expressed readiness to discuss exchanging prisoners.
“If he is really ready to negotiate is a complex question,” he said, according to Reuters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while addresses a meeting of the Council of Legislators under the Russian Federal Assembly at the Tauride Palace, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, April 27, 2022.
(Alexander Demyanchuk, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that while Ukraine was not eager to have a dialogue with Putin, he understood communication will be necessary to end the war.
“There are things to discuss with the Russian leader. I’m not telling you that to me our people are eager to talk to him, but we have to face the realities of what we are living through,” he said.
UKRAINE’S ZELENSKYY CALLS FOR HELP PRESSURING RUSSIA ON PRISONER SWAP
On Thursday, the Kremlin said that it expects Ukraine to accept Russia’s demands and “the understanding of the real situation that exists de-facto.”
Previously, Zelenskyy has called for outside help to pressure Russia over swapping prisoners.
“The exchange of people – this is a humanitarian matter today and a very political decision that depends on the support of many states,” he said Monday in a question-and-answer video at the World Economic Forum.
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“We do not need the Russian servicemen, we only need ours,” he noted then.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
