Zelenskyy aims to have direct talks with Putin at the G7 or US level

Zelenskyy says he is ready to meet Putin at G7 or US talks and wants Russia to back down if they don’t.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine has said that he is willing to have direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G7 meeting this week in France or even in the US. He is doing this as part of his diplomatic efforts to end the war.

Monday in Kyiv, Zelenskyy spoke from a historic church that had been damaged by a Russian attack the night before. He said that the plan was meant to bring together important world leaders, such as US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron.

We let Putin know that we are ready to meet with him during the G7 because Trump and Macron will be there, too. That’s Europe and the US together. “This is a good chance for us all to get together,” he told the press.

He also said that both Europe and the US had shown support for the idea, but Moscow was being blamed for not wanting to take part. He said, “Russia showed again that they are not ready to talk.”

Zelenskyy also said that he and Trump had talked about a possible meeting in the US during a phone call on Sunday. This suggests that Putin might find it harder to say no to such an arrangement.

In a Telegram message, he said, “Such a meeting could be set up in the US in a way that would make it much harder for Putin to say no.”

A Ukrainian official said that the idea had been brought up to American and French officials as well as to their Russian counterparts directly, but that no clear answer had been received.

After Russian airstrikes killed at least 10 people in Kyiv and Kharkiv overnight, Zelenskyy said Putin was acting “cynically” because the attacks kept happening.

He said that getting more air defense systems to protect Ukraine from ongoing Russian missile and drone attacks would be his top priority at the G7 meeting.

He was talking about planned talks between Trump and European leaders. “We will talk with him about how to push Putin to stop this war,” he said.