"I have no good reason to talk to Putin right now. There's not much that he is prepared to do in terms of accommodating any change in his behavior," Biden said on Thursday. "I'm not ready to talk to Putin. Unless Putin is ready to change his behavior.”
However, Biden then said that he is prepared to talk to any leader who wants to talk, "including if Putin calls me and wants to talk."
The president then added that the last time he talked with Putin was on trying to progress work on an arms control agreement.
“Last time I talked to Putin I was trying to get him to work on an arms control agreement related to nuclear weapons in space. That didn’t go very far,” Biden said.
Biden continued to insist during the press conference that Ukraine can still prevail in its fight against Russia, despite Russia making significant gains on virtually all fronts and signaling by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he may be open to negotiations.
On Thursday, the 79th Air Assault Brigade of Ukraine posted on its official Telegram account that there was a spreading "illness among the soldiers that there would be peace negotiations, that by the end of the year everything would be over." The account recommended that soldiers "take care of" themselves and fellow soldiers, with the goal of making it to the end of the conflict "intact."