Zelensky insists on need for ‘meeting’ with Putin

This handout picture taken and released by Ukrainian presidential press-service on March 21, 2022 shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressing Ukrainian people during a broadcast speech. (Photo by UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) – President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday insisted that a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “in any format” is needed to end the war in Ukraine.

“I believe that without this meeting it is impossible to fully understand what they are ready for in order to stop the war,” Zelensky said in an interview with the Ukraine regional media outlet Suspilne.

Zelensky has previously said that “without negotiations we cannot end the war” and called for a summit with Putin, but his comments on Monday were particularly insistent.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the National Space Centre construction site in Moscow on February 27, 2022. (Photo by Sergei GUNEYEV / SPUTNIK / AFP)

Several session of Ukraine-Russia talks have taken place via videoconferencing since the start of the Russian military action in Ukraine on February 24.