Legitimacy of Ukraine's Zelenskyy is over: Russia's Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had no legitimacy following the expiry of his five-year term and this would raise a legal obstacle if Russia and Ukraine were to resume peace talks.

At a televised press conference during a visit to Belarus on Friday, Putin said the status of Zelenskyy was problematic.

With Ukraine still under martial law in the third year of Russia's full-scale invasion, Zelenskyy has not faced elections despite the expiry of his five-year term this week - something he and Ukraine's allies deem to be the right decision to take at a time of war.

Putin is ready halt the war in Ukraine with a negotiated ceasefire that recognises the current battlefield lines, Reuters reported on Friday, citing four Russian sources, but is ready to fight on if Kiev and the West do not respond.

"But who to negotiate with? That's not an idle question... Of course we realise the legitimacy of the incumbent head of state is over," Putin said.

No ultimatums

He said peace should be worked out through common sense, not ultimatums.

It should be based on draft documents that were worked out between the two sides in the early weeks of the war, and on "today's realities on the ground" - a reference to the fact that Russia controls nearly 20 percent of Ukraine.

"If it gets to that point, we will need of course to understand who we should and can deal with, to arrive at signing legally binding documents. And then we must be fully sure we are dealing with legitimate (Ukrainian) authorities," Putin said.

Putin's comments are likely to be taken by Ukraine and its Western allies as further evidence that he has no real intention of entering peace talks, despite frequently stating his willingness to negotiate.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly said peace on Putin's terms is a non-starter. He has vowed to retake lost territory, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. He signed a decree in 2022 that formally declared any talks with Putin "impossible".