Russia-Ukraine conflict: Zelenskyy says a direct meeting with Putin must happen to end war

Russia continues its unprovoked attack on Ukraine, and thousands of people were killed in the conflict. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanded that a direct meeting with the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin must happen if both sides want the war to end.

In an interview with Ukrainian media outlets Monday, Zelenskyy reiterated the call he made a month prior to the invasion, that direct talks with Putin must happen if peace is to be achieved and a resolution to the war that has continued for a month. The Kremlin rejected the previous call by Zelenskyy to have a direct discussion with Putin.

“Without this meeting, it is impossible to understand what they are ready for in order to stop the war,” said Zelenskyy.

“At the first meeting with the president of Russia, I am ready to raise these issues,” the Ukrainian leader added.

Zelenskyy was referring to the issues that both the Russian and Ukrainian envoys have raised during the peace talks. This included Russia’s demand that Ukraine renounces its desire to join NATO and Ukraine’s demand for Russian and pro-Russian forces to completely withdraw from the country.

Zelenskyy also said that major compromise proposals would be placed in a referendum to the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainian leader pointed out that Ukrainians will not accept ultimatums such as the kind that Russia recently issued when it offered humanitarian corridors in exchange for surrendering the separatist-occupied city of Mariupol. The offer was rejected.

Russia has been hit with numerous sanctions from the West and many other countries in response to its invasion of Ukraine. A growing number of countries have also called on the international courts to launch an investigation for war crimes committed by Russians in Ukraine.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also called on Putin to end the conflict, warning that there is no goal to be reached if Russian forces continue their assault. Guterres also warned of the repercussions that Russia’s invasion would have on the world, citing the rising prices of gas and food all over the world.

“Continuing the war is morally unacceptable, politically indefensible, and militarily nonsensical,” Guterres told reporters in New York Tuesday.

“Even if Mariupol falls, Ukraine cannot be conquered city by city, street by street, house by house,” Guterres continued. “This war is unwinnable. Sooner or later, it will have to move from the battlefield to the peace table.”