MBABANE:Russian President Vladimir Putin says he had “never ruled out” the possibility of meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to end the three and half year long war, but added that if no peace deal was reached, Moscow would achieve its aims militarily, Aljazeera reported on Wednesday evening.
“Donald Trump asked me for such a meeting, I said: ‘Yes, it’s possible, let Zelenskyy come to Moscow”, Putin said on Wednesday at the end of his visit to China.
United States President Donald Trump who has been trying to broker a peace settlement, called for a one-on-one meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy in efforts to end the war after holding talks with the Russian leader in Alaska in mid-August.
But so far, no progress has been made on this, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday suggesting Geneva as a possible venue.
It has been reported that, the Russian President demanded an end to martial law in Ukraine and a referendum on the territorial question which have been rejected by Kyiv.
“Russia has reiterated that any peace deal with Ukraine would have to result in its retention of the four regions it annexed in 2022. In contrast, Kyiv has said there would be no deal that included giving up its land”, reads the Aljazeera report.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin holds a news conference, at the end of his visit to China for the Tianjin SCO Summit and the military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, in Beijing [Sergei Bobylov/Pool/AFP]