Ukraine’s Zelensky proposes peace talks in letter to Putin

[BELARUS] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed peace talks to Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a rare and combative open letter on Thursday (Jun 4), as efforts to end more than four years of war gained momentum.

“Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations,” Zelensky wrote. “We in Ukraine do not want a permanent war. We know very well that life without war is infinitely better. And we want to achieve that.”

The appeal came as officials from Europe’s three biggest economies – Germany, France and the UK – have been discussing the possibility of holding talks involving Russia and Ukraine, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. They have also talked about the matter with their Ukrainian counterparts, the sources said.

With US-led peace talks stalled and Russian forces suffering mounting losses amid a stalemate on the battlefield, the three nations see an opportunity to potentially bring Putin to the negotiating table, the sources said. Adding to the pressure on the Kremlin, Ukrainian forces have had increasing success with drone strikes deep inside Russia and there are some signs of resistance to Putin’s war at the highest levels in Moscow.

Zelensky’s letter aims to increase public pressure on the Russian leader, a source close to the Ukrainian president said, asking not to be identified, discussing matters that are not public.

US President Donald Trump welcomed the Ukrainian initiative.

“I’m glad that they are maybe talking about meeting, I think we had a lot to do with it,” Trump said when asked about the letter by a reporter Thursday in the Oval Office. “But I think it would be great if they met, they should get it done.”

Putin has not yet had an opportunity to read Zelensky’s letter, but would be briefed on it later, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, according to Tass. If Zelensky wants to meet Putin, he can come to Moscow, he said.

In the letter, Zelensky said any meeting should take place in a third country, rejecting Moscow as a venue. He cited Switzerland, Turkey or Arab countries as possible options.

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Putin has repeatedly said that he is prepared to meet Zelensky in Moscow or elsewhere, but only at the final stage of peace negotiations to sign an agreement rather than conduct substantive talks. Putin has also rejected all calls for a truce while peace talks take place, arguing that a ceasefire would be used to rearm Ukraine and improve its defences.

Alex Kokcharov, geoeconomics analyst at Bloomberg Economics, said that while the letter raises the chances talks will resume, a peace deal in the next six months remains unlikely.

“Zelensky is using Ukraine’s improved battlefield position to push for talks, while Putin still appears to view diplomacy as a way to secure Russian territorial gains and gain time,” he said. “The more likely outcome is intensified coercive bargaining, with more long-range strikes, Russian air attacks, and pressure on both sides’ domestic and external support bases.”

Earlier Thursday, the Russian president pushed back at the prospect of European leaders helping negotiate an end to his war in Ukraine, dismissing them as mediators and insisting on a peace deal he said had been worked out with Trump at a meeting last summer in Alaska.

In his letter, Zelenskiy rejected the terms Putin and Trump discussed there, which would have seen Ukraine give up large swathes of territory, and said that Europe must be part of any peace efforts.

“You can see for yourself that Ukrainian and European issues are not decided in Anchorage,” he wrote.

Zelenskiy also rejected Russia’s demand – discussed in Alaska – that Ukraine give up more territory in any deal. “The front line today is the line from which diplomacy must begin,” he wrote.

While Putin is the primary addressee of Zelenskiy’s letter, it will also be delivered via diplomatic channels to other countries, including the US and Ukraine’s main partners, Zelenskiy aide Dmytro Lytvyn told reporters. BLOOMBERG