ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday dismissed an open letter from Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy proposing face-to-face talks to end the five-year conflict, saying he saw no reason to meet unless Kyiv halted advances and produced long-term, verifiable agreements. Speaking at an economic forum where business figures criticized high interest rates and wartime economic strain, Putin called parts of Zelenskiy’s letter insincere and suggested it was more likely intended to stir domestic discontent in Russia than to arrange genuine negotiations.
Putin, who referred to Zelenskiy only as “the letter’s author,” urged experts to draft durable solutions before any summit and emphasized that any deal should not be short-term. Kremlin-aligned war bloggers also derided the outreach as a public-relations ploy. Despite the Kremlin leader’s hardline remarks, he repeated that U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace proposals could end the fighting if Kyiv were willing to compromise.
The conflict remains a grinding war of attrition in eastern Ukraine, with heavy casualties on both sides and Russia controlling roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory more than four years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Western sanctions, and Ukrainian missile and drone strikes targeting Russian infrastructure, are increasingly stressing the Russian economy and fueling calls among some elites for negotiation. Kyiv, however, insists it will not withdraw from parts of the Donbas it holds and will refuse to recognise Russian sovereignty over seized Ukrainian territory.
Fighting continued this week, with Russia launching hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukrainian population centres, including strikes on Kyiv that killed dozens, while Ukraine intensified attacks inside Russia, targeting sites such as oil refineries.