President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote an open letter to Putin and proposed a meeting to end the war.
This became known from the website of the Presidentʼs Office, where the letter was published.
In it, the Ukrainian president proposes to end the war and hold a meeting with Putin. According to him, there are countries that are ready to host this meeting, in particular, Switzerland, Turkey, and the countries of the Arab world.
"The front line now is the line from which diplomacy should begin," Zelensky wrote.
The President proposes a format for a future meeting to end the war: first Ukraine and Russia, then other participants — primarily Europe and the United States for security guarantees.
Zelensky also writes that Ukraine is ready to exchange prisoners of war on the principle of "all for all" and is ready to cease fire completely for the time when negotiations are ongoing. The US can provide this.
In addition, the president emphasized that Ukrainian intelligence has data on Russiaʼs plans to continue the war in 2027-2028 and involve Belarus in it.
The president also stressed that serious steps must be taken to return civilians and children who were taken away during the war. He also stressed that Russia will not seize the Donetsk region this year, as it regularly postpones the terms of occupation.
At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sybiha wrote that Ukraine will officially transmit a letter from Zelensky to Putin through diplomatic channels and will await a response.
Putinʼs press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Putin would be informed about the letter later. Peskov also reiterated that if Zelensky wants to meet, he can come to Moscow, Russian media reported.
Negotiations between Ukraine, Russia and the USA
The first direct trilateral negotiations between delegations from Ukraine, the Russian Federation, and the United States took place in Abu Dhabi on January 23-24. Their main topic was the possible terms for ending the war, but the negotiators did not achieve any concrete results.
The next round of negotiations took place in Abu Dhabi on February 4-5. The parties focused on the mechanisms of the ceasefire and how it would be monitored by the United States. But the delegations were unable to finally agree on the details without political decisions at the highest level. At the same time, they agreed on the first exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia in the last five months — 157 Ukrainians returned home.
After that, Ukraine, Russia, and the United States held peace talks in Geneva on February 17-18. Zelensky said at the time that the military had almost agreed on how to monitor the ceasefire, but there had been no progress on the issues of territories and ZNPP.
The latest round of trilateral talks between Kyiv, Washington, and Moscow took place in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 26. Particular attention was focused on the economic bloc and long-term support mechanisms for Ukraine.
In early April, Zelensky said that he had invited the American delegation to come to Kyiv for talks at the level of technical groups. This format is an alternative to the trilateral meeting with the participation of the Russian Federation, which cannot yet be held due to the war in the Middle East.
At the same time, Zelensky does not believe that the negotiations have reached a dead end and insists that the trilateral meetings must be continued.
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