Zelenskyy calls for face-to-face Ukraine war negotiations in letter to Putin

Ukrainian president proposes meeting in neutral third country as Trump says both sides have to ‘make compromises’

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has called for face-to-face negotiations in a public letter addressed directly to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

The letter, the first Zelenskyy has publicly written directly to Putin since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, was a sweeping criticism of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power.

Zelenskyy acknowledged shifting US priorities, saying it would be wrong to simply wait for the Trump administration to return its attention to ending the Ukraine war while it remained heavily focused on the Iran war.

He appeared to be trying to seize a pivotal moment in the war as Ukraine has begun to regain some battlefield leverage, largely through improved long-range strike capabilities that have complicated Russia’s advances. At the same time, Moscow has intensified its deadly aerial campaign across Ukraine, seeking to exploit Kyiv’s shortages and continued vulnerability to ballistic missile attacks.

Putin said on Thursday that Russia would strengthen its air defences to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep inside his country and cast a cloud over his showcase economic forum in his home town of St Petersburg.

Speaking during a meeting with heads of international news agencies, Putin acknowledged the damage from Ukrainian drone attacks. “To our regret, some of them break through,” Putin said of the strikes. “Russia has an air defence system, we need to improve it, strengthen it, and we will do that.”

The wide-ranging media session came on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin’s annual showcase for investment. Hours before the forum opened on Wednesday, a Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and also hit a nearby naval base.

Putin also said Russia was open for a compromise on Ukraine in line with the understandings reached at his summit with Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, and Ukraine needed to accept them to make a deal to end the conflict, now in its fifth year.

Trump said on Thursday it would be “great” for Zelenskyy to meet Putin – but said both sides had to make compromises, without explaining further.

“I’m glad that they’re maybe talking about meeting. I think we had a lot to do with it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I think it would be great if they met. They should – get it done.

“They’re going to both make compromises, I suggested those compromises, and you know, we’v