- Russian President Putin called Ukraine's government 'illegitimate' and said it's 'senseless' to sign documents
- Putin said Trump's plan was for discussion and could form a basis for future agreements
- Kyiv stated elections are impossible under martial law amid conflict with Russia
Russia's President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the Ukrainian government is illegitimate and that it was senseless to sign any agreements with them.
He said that US President Donald Trump's plan was "a set of issues put forward for discussion" rather than a draft agreement, adding that it could become the basis of future agreements.
He said the Kyiv leadership lost legitimacy after refusing to hold elections when President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's elected term expired. Meanwhile, Kyiv said it cannot hold elections while under martial law and defending its territory against Russia.
The Russian leader said that although the US was considering Russia's position, there are other things that need to be discussed.
"We need to sit down and discuss this seriously," Putin told reporters at the end of a three-day visit to Kyrgyzstan. "Every word matters."
He explained that hostilities will cease if Ukrainian troops withdraw from territories they occupy. "If they don't withdraw, we will achieve this by force," he said.
Putin has previously demanded that Ukraine completely withdraw from the entirety of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia regions before Russia considers any sort of "peace negotiations", notably including areas of each of those oblasts that Russia does not occupy.
He also wants to keep Ukraine from joining NATO and hosting any Western troops, allowing Moscow to gradually pull the country back into its orbit.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Moscow next week, while US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll may be heading to Kyiv.
Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the worst armed conflict in Europe since World War II.
