In an effort to “put an end to the war”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called again for a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
While speaking at a news conference at a metro station in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, Zelensky said, “I think that whoever started this war will be able to end it.”
He added that he was “not afraid to meet” Putin if it would lead to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine and said that from the beginning, Zelensky had insisted on talks with the Russian president.
“It’s not that I want (to meet him), it’s that I have to meet him so as to settle this conflict by diplomatic means. We have confidence in our partners, but we have no confidence in Russia,” he added.
Zelensky told reporters that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Kyiv on Sunday, the day the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its third month. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would also visit and will be the first official visit by US government officials since the February 24 invasion.
US State Department official, however declined to comment.
Zelensky also denounced plans by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to visit Moscow on Tuesday, before Kyiv.
“It is simply wrong to go first to Russia and then to Ukraine,” he said. “There is no justice and no logic in this order.”
Zelensky repeated his warning that they would break off talks if Russia killed the remaining Ukrainian soldiers in the besieged Black Sea port of Mariupol.
“If our men are killed in Mariupol and if these pseudo-referendums are organised in the (southern) region of Kherson, then Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiation process,” he said.
He was ready to exchange Ukraine’s soldiers defending the city “in whatever format” to save “these people who find themselves in a horrible situation, surrounded”.
Zelensky also said that eight people had been killed and 18 wounded in Russian strikes on the Black Sea port of Odessa, updating an earlier toll given by local officials.
