Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that he had offered to meet Vladimir Putin at a G7 summit in France this week or even in the United States for talks to end a four-year war. Zelensky, speaking at a historic monastery in Kyiv that was damaged in an overnight attack by Russia, said the United States had agreed to inviting Putin to the gathering, which starts on Monday in Evian-les-Bains.
“We gave a message that we are ready to meet with Putin during (the) G7, because Trump is there and Macron is there, so Europeans plus America. This is a good, I think, very good opportunity to meet all together,” Zelensky told reporters in English.
“Europe and the United States were agreed and Russia demonstrated again that…they are not ready to speak,” he said. Writing later on Telegram, Zelensky said he had suggested to Trump in a telephone conversation on Sunday that he and the Russian president meet in the United States. “Yesterday we discussed with President Trump that such a meeting could be organised in the U.S. in a format that would make it much harder for Putin to refuse, at least to refuse President Trump,” he said. “We will see what comes of this. If Russia rejects this chance too, more pressure will be needed.”
A Ukrainian official said that Zelensky had told the Americans and French President Emmanuel Macron about the proposal for talks at the G7. Ukraine also delivered the invitation directly to Russian counterparts, but received no clear answer, the official said.
Macron’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In an open letter to Putin this month, Zelensky offered to meet for face-to-face talks and had suggested that the war was increasing the strain on Russia’s economy. In response, Putin said publicly that he saw no reason for a meeting, and Ukraine’s long-range drone attacks posed no economic threat. At least 10 people were killed in Russia’s overnight attack on Kyiv and the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Monday.
Zelensky accused the Russian leader of behaving “cynically” by launching the attack hours after he spoke by phone with Trump.
Zelensky said his priority at the G7 meeting would be securing more air defence systems to defend against Russian strikes.
“We will have meeting with Europeans and also with President Trump; we will speak with him about how to push Putin to stop this war,” he said.
