Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed a direct face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an open letter released on Thursday, alongside an offer of a full ceasefire during negotiations.
The letter, published on the Ukrainian presidency’s website, represents one of the few direct appeals Zelensky has made personally to Putin since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In the message, Zelensky called for an immediate political breakthrough after months of stalled diplomacy and limited progress in peace efforts.
“Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us — and you. I am proposing a meeting,” he wrote.
He added that Ukraine was prepared to observe a “full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations,” describing the move as a possible step toward ending the conflict.
Zelensky also proposed a comprehensive prisoner-of-war exchange, describing it as a potential “prologue to ending the war.”
Talks between Kyiv and Moscow have remained frozen in recent months, with previous rounds of negotiations in Istanbul, Abu Dhabi and Geneva failing to resolve key disagreements, particularly over territorial control in any future settlement.
There was no immediate response from the Kremlin. Putin was attending a meeting with foreign journalists in Saint Petersburg at the time the letter was published.
Zelensky has repeatedly called for direct talks with Putin, arguing that only a personal meeting between the two leaders can resolve fundamental issues, including territorial disputes.
However, Putin has previously stated that any meeting would only take place once a broader peace agreement framework has already been reached.
