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Zelensky ready to meet with Putin if necessary, presidential office says

The first meeting of the two presidents was held on December 9

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky

© EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

KIEV, February 12. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is ready to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin if this is necessary, but no talks on the issue are underway now, new Ukrainian Presidential Office Head Andrei Yermak said on Wednesday.

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Putin, Zelensky establish working contact, Kremlin says

"Speaking about the meeting with Putin, it’s up to President Zelensky to make this decision. If he sees that this meeting is necessary and that it could become a step towards achieving a real outcome of talks in the Normandy format, we are not ruling this out. But so far no talks on the issue have been held," Yermak told reporters, answering a question if the two leaders could meet before the summit of the Normandy Four (Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany) scheduled for April.

Earlier Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that the Russian and Ukrainian leaders had established a working contact. The first phone conversation between Putin and Zelensky was held on July 11, 2019, a month and a half after Zelensky’s inauguration. The two leaders talked over the phone several times. Their first meeting was held on December 9 at the Paris summit of the Normandy Four group.

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Kaspars Lazdins noted that once the ditches were ready, the so-called dragon’s teeth barriers would be set up on the border

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Russian artillery wipes out Ukrainian field ammo depot near Avdeyevka

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Dollar almost completely gone from Russia-China trade relations — Lavrov

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Russian troops wipe out German-made IRIS-T air defense system over past day

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Russian ambassador slams Germany’s supplies of lethal weapons to Kiev as mistake

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Russian embassy in UK says London’s role in Ukraine conflict rising

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West attempts to bury Odessa tragedy — Russian diplomat

Russian Foreign Ministry's special envoy for the crimes of the Kiev regime Rodion Miroshnik noted that the regime of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky will not conduct this investigation

Any aggression against Crimea to be met with crushing retaliation — Russian MFA

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US official supports continued cooperation between Russia, US on space

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G7 countries privately recognize Russian assets seizure not on the table — FT

Western countries are "exploring alternative ways of extracting funding" for Ukraine from the frozen assets, the newspaper said

Indonesia, Saudi Arabia to convince EU to prevent confiscation of Russian assets — FT

The confiscation risk is that "if we just start ignoring the principles [of international law - TASS], they can equally be used against us by other states and that we set a precedent that can have unintended effects down the line," Philippa Webb said

Half of Avdeyevka’s territory cleared of explosives — newspaper

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Sending NATO troops to Ukraine to lead to dangerous escalation — top UK diplomat

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United States removes Emperor Aviation from anti-Russian sanctions list

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Ukrainian authorities unable to banish Russian language — Russian diplomat

Maria Zakharova stressed that the Kiev regime banned the Russian language, "ignoring its own constitution"

Russia adds over 1 mln tons of grain to intervention fund

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Russian lower house to cancel sessions on May 17, 16, hold them on May 10, 13

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Certain countries hope US aid to Ukraine to lower pressure on Russian assets issue — FT

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Russian tech firm ramps up production of glide bombs — CEO

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US has 3-4 years to stand up new capacity to replace Russian uranium imports

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