Putin Rejects Zelenskyy's Proposal To Meet As Senseless
by RFE/RL · Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty · JoinRussian President Vladimir Putin rejected a proposal by his Ukrainian counterpart to meet for face-to-face talks to end the war as senseless, calling for the country's military to "do the job."
"I see no point in meeting. It only makes sense for the Ukrainian side," Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 5, adding that a potential cease-fire would only help Kyiv to stop Russian ground offensives.
The comments come a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy published an open letter urging Putin to stop the war, now well into its fifth year, and indicating that Kyiv has no intention of giving up the lasting fight.
SEE ALSO:
On Springtime Battlefield In War's Fifth Year, Ukraine Claws Back Territory
"Ukraine is ready for a full cease-fire for the duration of the negotiations," Zelenskyy wrote, suggesting the situation along the stalled front line would not change in Russia's favor in the foreseeable future.
Following Putin's remarks rejecting a meeting, Zelenskyy said, "Unfortunately, the Russian side is choosing war again -- everyone heard today's response."
"A weak response. He simply doesn't want to end the war," Zelenskyy added.
Diplomatic efforts led by US President Donald Trump's administration have stalled in recent months, as Washington has focused on the war against Iran and the turmoil in the Middle East.
Kyiv and Moscow remain far apart in their negotiating terms, with Kremlin sticking to its hard-line stance and offering no compromise on control of Ukraine's key eastern region of Donetsk.
Fighting on the front line, meanwhile, has shown no signs of easing.
Experts say Russia's latest offensives have yielded little to no territorial gains for Moscow, and for the first time in years, Ukrainian forces recaptured more territory than they lost.
"You regularly postpone, every few months, your own deadlines for capturing our regions -- especially the Donetsk region. And you will not capture it this year either," Zelenskyy said in his letter.
Putin, meanwhile, has claimed that the Russian army was still advancing in Ukraine.
At the forum, he reiterated: "[Military actions] will end once we have achieved the goals we have set for ourselves."
As Zelenskyy said Ukraine had survived its "hardest" winter -- with Russian strikes pounding energy and civilian infrastructure and leaving thousands of residents in the cold and dark -- Moscow has continued to attack Ukrainian cities through the spring.
Earlier in the week, Russian strikes on Ukraine's major cities, including Kyiv and the southeastern city of Dnipro, which has long became a hub hosting thousands of refugees from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Dozens were killed or injured.
While Zelenskyy's letter marked a rare effort at direct communication with Putin, it also pointed out that Ukraine had been responding, particularly through long-range drone strikes that threatened Russia's Victory Day parade on Red Square and forced the Kremlin to scale back the celebrations.
SEE ALSO:
Drone Strikes, Deep Strikes: How Ukraine's Long-Range Air Attacks Are Hurting Russia
Ukraine has stepped up its deep strikes on energy and military infrastructure inside Russia, attacking facilities up to 1,000 kilometers from its border, as it seeks to curb Moscow's ability to export oil and gas.
Asked about the matter during the St. Petersburg forum on June 5, Putin said that the strikes had inflicted a certain amount of economic damage but claimed they posed no threat to the country's economy or to potential investors.
Putin said he saw Zelenskyy's letter as "rude" and that it was "no way to set up a face-to-face meeting."
"We should address not the authors of this letter, nor lovers of the epistolary genre, but our fighters on the front line," he said. "Do your job, brothers."
Putin Rejects Zelenskyy's Proposal To Meet As Senseless
Share
Share
Follow us