Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday, September 5., that Russian President , Vladimir Putin can travel to Kyiv for talks on a peace settlement in Ukraine.
Earlier the same day, speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin again said the “best place” for negotiations on a peace settlement in Ukraine would be Moscow. He pledged that Zelensky would receive a “100 percent” security guarantee if he came to the Russian capital.
“A guarantee of 100 percent… If someone truly wants to meet with us, we are ready. The best place for this is the capital of the Russian Federation, the hero city of Moscow,” the Russian president said. He called proposals to meet Zelensky in other countries “redundant.”
“He (Vladimir Putin) can come to Kyiv,” According to our source, Zelensky countered in an interview, saying , “I cannot go to Moscow when my country is under missile strikes, attacks every day. I cannot go to the capital of this terrorist.” Zelensky said he believes Putin “understands this.”
During the conversation, the Ukrainian leader repeatedly said Putin does not want to meet with him or end the war in Ukraine. He also said Putin is “playing games with the United States.”
Earlier, on August 28, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz voiced a similar view. During a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, he urged a renewed focus on a peace settlement in Ukraine, “based on the fact that a meeting between President Zelensky and President Putin is clearly not going to happen.”
On September 2, at a joint press conference with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter in Berlin, Merz said direct talks between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents could take place in Geneva.
On his part, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on X on September 3 that, by that point, seven countries had offered to host a meeting between Zelensky and Putin: Austria, the Holy See (the Vatican), Switzerland, Turkey and three Gulf states. “These are serious proposals, and President Zelensky is ready for such a meeting at any time,” Sybiha said.
Author: Maureen Ikpeama