Moscow [Russia], September 4: Russian President Vladimir Putin told Kyiv on Wednesday there was a chance to end the war in Ukraine via negotiations "if common sense prevails", an option he said he preferred, but that he was ready to end it by force if that was the only way.
Speaking in Beijing at the end of a visit that resulted in an agreement on a new gas pipeline to China, Putin said he perceived "a certain light at the end of the tunnel", given what he said were sincere efforts by the United States to find a settlement to Europe's biggest land war since World War Two.
However, Putin indicated no willingness to soften his long-standing demands, including that Kyiv abandon any idea of joining NATO and that it end what Moscow says is discrimination against Russian speakers.
He said he was ready to hold talks with Volodymyr Zelenskiy if the Ukrainian president came to Moscow, but that any such meeting had to be well prepared and lead to tangible results.
Ukraine's foreign minister dismissed as "unacceptable" the suggestion of Moscow as a venue for such a meeting.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
