On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that he is willing to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to talk about diplomatic and political means of resolving the Ukrainian issue.
Zelenskyy accused Putin of being “afraid of talking” to him about ending the war during a press conference in Kyiv after meeting with Odile Renaud-Basso, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
According to US President Donald Trump and the European Union, diplomacy cannot be conducted without Russia and Putin. For this reason, I stated that if we can agree on how this war would finish for us, I am prepared to meet with him. I have no issue with diplomacy; we are prepared for it. The issue is that, in my opinion, Putin is essentially scared to discuss ending the war with me,” he asserted.
Zelenskyy asserted that he is exempt from the Ukrainian decree he signed in 2022 that forbids any peace negotiations with Russia while Putin is the country’s president.
