Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested on June 5 that there was “no point” in meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid the years-long war between the two countries.
Putin said on Friday that an in-person meeting would be “boorish,” and he had no desire to attend potential peace talks after Ukraine launched a drone attack on a college dorm in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region on May 22, killing 21 people.
Putin’s comments were sparked by an open letter Zelenskyy sent him on June 4, proposing they hold peace talks in a country such as Switzerland, Turkey, or an Arab nation.
“Is it a way to create conditions for personal meetings and talks, or create an environment which makes any personal meetings impossible?” Putin said during a question-and-answer session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “I think it’s the second.”
In the letter, the Ukrainian leader suggested his country was ready for a ceasefire and an all-for-all prisoner exchange as he called for an end to the full-scale war, which started in February 2022 when Russia launched an invasion into Ukraine.
“You did not expect full-scale resistance from Ukraine, and you did not foresee that things would go this far,” Zelenskyy wrote.
“Yet here we all are—in the fifth year of this full-scale war. Do not be afraid to take the path out of this war. That is the main thing that is required of you now.”
The open letter also criticized Putin’s leadership and age.
“After 26 years in power, age is beginning to take its toll,” Zelenskyy wrote. “And with time, the fatigue with you will only grow.”
Zelenskyy suggested that support in Putin’s own country was dwindling as Ukrainians would have supported striking Putin during his public appearance on Friday.
“Now, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians view it positively that our long-range drones paid a visit to the opening of your forum in St. Petersburg, covering a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers,” Zelenskyy wrote. “As you know very well, that distance is not the limit of our capabilities.”
Biletsky suggested that Russia’s forces are exhausted and unable to make significant advances.
Days before Zelenskyy penned the open letter, he told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that both countries have a “period of time before the winter” to find a diplomatic way to “sit and speak.”
Victoria Friedman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
