Zelensky reaffirms his willingness to meet with Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has once again proposed a meeting with Putin to end the war in Ukraine. He made this statement after Russian President Putin's statements during a meeting with Belarusian President Lukashenko.

"We hear statements from Russia, and if this is a signal of their serious readiness to end the war with dignity and establish a truly lasting peace, and not just an attempt to buy time for war and postpone sanctions, then Ukraine once again confirms its readiness to meet at the level of leaders at any time.

We understand who makes decisions in Russia and who should stop this war. The whole world understands this too. Ukraine proposes to move from an exchange of statements and meetings at the technical level to a meeting between the presidents. America proposed this. Ukraine supported this idea. All that is needed is Russia's readiness," Zelensky said.

Today, during a meeting with Lukashenko, Putin said that Russia is for achieving a "long-term, lasting" peace in Ukraine. At the same time, his previously voiced demands for the start of the peace process remain in force: Ukrainian troops must be completely withdrawn from the territory of the Ukrainian "DPR", "LPR", Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.

"If the Ukrainian leadership believes that now is not the time and that it is necessary to wait, please, we are ready to wait," Putin said.