Zelenskyy offers direct peace talks with Putin

KYIV, Ukraine - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has offered direct peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an open letter published on Thursday, after U.S.-led efforts to mediate an end to the war stalled.

"Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us - and you. I am proposing a meeting," Zelenskyy wrote in the letter released by his office in Kyiv.

He said the two leaders should discuss the war's "key issues" directly.

Zelenskyy ruled out both Kyiv and Moscow as venues for the talks, suggesting instead Switzerland, Turkey or a country in the "Arab world" as possible locations.

The letter was published while Putin was holding a press conference with international journalists on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Putin said he was "prepared to reach an agreement with Ukraine," but reiterated his demand that Russia gain full control of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Kyiv has categorically rejected any territorial concessions.

As a first step towards peace, Zelenskyy proposed a ceasefire along the current front line to be monitored by the United States.

This could be followed by an "all-for-all exchange" of prisoners of war and the return of civilians and children whom Kyiv says were taken from Ukraine during the war.

Zelenskyy also said representatives of Europe and the United States should participate in the negotiations and potentially act as guarantors of any agreement.

U.S. focus shifts away from Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not respond directly to the contents of the letter.

"President Putin has said that Zelenskyy can come to Moscow if he wants to talk," Peskov told reporters in St. Petersburg.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected Moscow as a venue for negotiations.

U.S. President Donald Trump, asked by reporters at the White House about the letter, said he would welcome a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.

Since last year, Washington has been pressing both Russia and Ukraine to reach a settlement to the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. However, U.S. diplomatic efforts have lost momentum as Washington's attention has increasingly shifted towards Iran.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that the negotiations had become "an endless cycle of meetings that lead to nothing," adding that others were welcome to try to end the war in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy acknowledged the situation in his proposal to Putin: "We see that the United States is fully focused on the issue of Iran, and it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention."

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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 7:27 PM.