Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky known as on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war, in an open letter posted because the Russian chief was talking to media on the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. It comes a day after Ukrainian strikes on the Russian metropolis.
“We can all see that Russians are finally becoming less comfortable with this reality — with the fact that the war is bringing more and more negative consequences to Russia,” Zelensky wrote. “They do not like the fact that there is no end in sight to your war.”
The Ukrainian chief mentioned Putin “regularly” postpones deadlines to seize Ukrainian areas, particularly Donetsk.
“And you will not capture it this year either,” he mentioned.
Zelensky known as for a direct meeting with Putin to end the war and pressured that peace shouldn’t wait till the US turned its consideration from Iran to the Ukraine-Russia war.
“We see that the United States is fully focused on the issue of Iran, and it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention,” Zelensky mentioned.
“Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us — and you. I am proposing a meeting,” he wrote, including that it ought to happen in a 3rd nation and {that a} clear date needs to be set. During these conferences, Zelensky mentioned a full ceasefire wants to be in place.
“An attempt to establish real silence is the best way to begin talking to one another.”
The Kremlin has seen Zelensky’s letter and Putin can be briefed on it, Russian state outlet TASS cited Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying. He additionally mentioned that if Zelensky needs to meet Putin, “he can come to Moscow.”
Zelensky reiterated within the letter that him touring to the Russian capital is a non-starter.
Meanwhile in St. Petersburg, Putin mentioned proposals made by US President Donald Trump to end the war may “be the basis” for peace agreements however would require compromise from each international locations.
“We generally agreed to these compromises. We just need to convince the Ukrainian side of this, and that’s it,” he mentioned. “But overall, I believe they could very well be the basis for agreements between Russia and Ukraine and could put an end to this conflict.”