Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Putin was prepared to talk with Ukrainian leaders about both neutrality and demilitarization.

“The president formulated his vision of what we would expect from Ukraine in order for the conceptual ‘red lines’,” he told reporters at a Kremlin press briefing, “if the leadership of Ukraine is ready to talk about it.”

Putin has previously refused to negotiate directly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, with the latter complaining requests to negotiate with Moscow as recently as Wednesday had gone unanswered. Following a Russian bombardment of Ukraine early Thursday, Zelenskiy announced he was severing diplomatic relations with Russia.

Moscow’s all-out assault Thursday morning on Ukraine with missiles and warplanes threatens to push Europe into its gravest conflict since World War II.