{"id":143133,"date":"2026-06-05T07:02:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T07:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/zelensky-calls-for-face-to-face-talks-with-putin-in-renewed-push-for-peace-deal\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T07:02:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T07:02:51","slug":"zelensky-calls-for-face-to-face-talks-with-putin-in-renewed-push-for-peace-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/zelensky-calls-for-face-to-face-talks-with-putin-in-renewed-push-for-peace-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelensky calls for face-to-face talks with Putin in renewed push for peace deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON, United Kingdom, Jun 5 \u2014 Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a face-to-face meeting between himself and Vladimir Putin in a renewed bid to end the war.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an open letter to the Russian president, the Ukrainian leader said it would be \u201cwrong to simply wait\u201d until the war in Europe becomes the focus of the US\u2019s attention once more, adding peace could only come \u201cthrough direct engagement between\u201d Ukraine and Russia.<\/p>\n

He also called for a full ceasefire for the duration of proposed negotiations \u2013 something Putin ruled out earlier on Thursday.<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he thought \u201cit would be great\u201d if the two leaders met.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin confirmed it had received the letter and Putin would be briefed on it.<\/p>\n

The tone of the letter was defiant, even mocking, drawing attention to Ukraine\u2019s recent strikes on Russian territory.<\/p>\n

Zelensky stated that \u201cafter 26 years in power, age is beginning to take its toll\u201d on Putin.<\/p>\n

The letter also provided an invitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cUkraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us \u2013 and you. I am proposing a meeting,\u201d Zelensky wrote.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a new offer from Ukraine\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n

As it has before, the Kremlin responded, saying Zelensky was welcome to meet Putin in Moscow.<\/p>\n

What was notable was Kyiv\u2019s public acknowledgement that the US \u201cis fully focused on the issue of Iran\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the centre of its attention,\u201d Zelensky wrote.<\/p>\n

Speaking to foreign journalists in St Petersburg, without apparently having seen the contents of the letter, Putin said he was \u201ccertainly prepared and willing to reach an agreement with Ukraine\u201d, but said compromises needed to be made.<\/p>\n

\nPutin insists Russia is winning the war and Ukraine must surrender territory\n<\/div>\n

Putin suggested that as Trump was busy with Iran, the EU could talk Zelensky into surrendering territory.<\/p>\n

Putin\u2019s longstanding position has been that Ukraine should withdraw from four regions largely occupied by Russia \u2013 Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia \u2013 and give up its efforts to join Nato.<\/p>\n

Ukraine has ruled out ceding territory, saying it would embolden Russia to invade again, as it had in 2022 when it launched its full-scale war eight years after illegally annexing Crimea.<\/p>\n

Ceasefire negotiations have stalled in recent months, and previous peace talks in Geneva, Abu Dhabi and Istanbul have failed.<\/p>\n

In the letter, which is more than 1,800 words long, Zelensky said: \u201cIt is not as if we in Ukraine are concerned about the fate of Russian soldiers after everything your war has brought to our country.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do care about Ukrainians. We are losing our people, and every loss is painful to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Putin remains uncompromising on Ukraine, but is public discourse on war changing in Russia?<\/a><\/h2>\n

Zelensky said Russians had become tired of Ukrainian drone and missile attacks, petrol shortages and rising prices, as well as war.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not be afraid to take the path out of this war. That is the main thing that is required of you now,\u201d he implored.<\/p>\n

He said Ukraine was proposing to end the war \u201cthrough direct engagement between us\u201d.<\/p>\n

Zelensky said face-to-face negotiations could take place in a country such as Switzerland or Turkey.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said \u201cthis open letter is a serious and meaningful proposal to end the war\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect a meaningful response to this proposal. It\u2019s time to end this war. It\u2019s time to choose peace,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian president\u2019s letter came on the same day Putin was in St Petersburg, where a major economic forum is taking place.<\/p>\n

The previous day Kyiv had\u00a0launched a drone attack<\/a>\u00a0on the city\u2019s outskirts, a strike mentioned in Zelensky\u2019s message as \u201cpaying a visit\u201d.<\/p>\n

Separately\u00a0Russian-backed authorities in occupied Crimea blamed Ukraine for the death of four people in attacks on the regional capital, Simferopol<\/a>. Ukraine said it had hit a fuel depot.<\/p>\n

During his press conference on Thursday, Putin appeared to immediately cast doubt on whether a meeting or deal could ever take place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether Mr Zelensky is a legitimate representative of Ukraine, this is a question for the lawyers, for a legal analysis,\u201d he said \u2013 a repetition of a Russian line that there has been no presidential election since Zelensky\u2019s term expired in May 2024.<\/p>\n

However, elections have been suspended in Ukraine since martial law was declared after Russia\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n

Trump said he thought the US had been instrumental in bringing the two countries closer to peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would be great if they met. They should. Get it done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked about the compromises the two sides would have to make, he said he would \u201crather not say\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them each to make certain compromises, and I think they\u2019re going to do it.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON, United Kingdom, Jun 5 \u2014 Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a face-to-face meeting between himself and Vladimir Putin in a renewed bid to end the war. In an open letter to the Russian president, the Ukrainian leader said it would be \u201cwrong to simply wait\u201d until the war in Europe becomes the focus of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}