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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in person in Turkey, with the main goal of securing a ceasefire along the entire front line, CNN Türk reports.
Zelenskyy hopes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will help arrange talks with Putin in Turkey.
The Ukrainian leader described a meeting at the highest level as necessary, saying previous contacts between the two sides had failed to end the war.
“We are ready for this meeting in Turkey. I know that President Erdoğan has his own channels of communication with Putin. That is why we support a meeting in Turkey,” Zelenskyy said.
According to him, direct talks between the presidents could help resolve issues that have remained unsettled in negotiations between delegations and technical teams.
“That is why I want to meet him as the person who makes the decisions,” Zelenskyy said.
He identified a ceasefire along the front line and a mechanism to monitor compliance with any agreement as key issues for a potential meeting with Putin.
Other topics, he said, should include security guarantees, Ukraine’s reconstruction and territorial issues.
Zelenskyy also stressed that he would not accept Putin’s demands for Ukraine to hand over Donbas or recognize Crimea as Russian. He said such concessions would contradict Ukraine’s Constitution.
The day before, the Kremlin said Putin could respond if Zelenskyy called him.
