Zelensky says he needs a meeting with Putin, not a phone call

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin that he needs a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin, not a phone call. He called an invitation to Moscow “a slap in the face of the entire world.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin instead of a phone call. He made the remarks on Tuesday at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin, LIGA reported.

Asked whether he was ready to speak with Putin by phone or invite him to Kyiv, Zelensky said: “We are not inviting Putin to Kyiv. First, they came to us without an invitation in 2022. But there is no point in inviting Putin to Kyiv because they will not come. Inviting them so that they do not come is destructive.”

He called an invitation from Russia to Moscow equally destructive. Zelensky said it would be like spitting in the face of the entire world, which wants the war to end, and that no one would support trips to Moscow.

Президент Украины Владимир Зеленский (архивное фото)

Zelensky said Russia would use the issue of a phone call to avoid meetings. “It would be a very formal, dry phone conversation in which I would once again listen to a history lecture from the Russian leader, rather than hear about real steps to actually end the war,” he said.

Earlier, in an interview with the Turkish broadcaster CNN Türk, Zelensky said he was ready to meet Putin in Türkiye.