Zelenskyy responds to Kremlin's invitation to visit Moscow: I invite Putin to Kyiv

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has responded to the Kremlin's persistent invitations to visit Moscow for talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Source: Zelenskyy during a conversation with journalists

Quote: "It is absolutely impossible for me to meet with Putin in Moscow. That would be the same as meeting with Putin in Kyiv. I can just as well invite him to Kyiv – let him come. I am publicly inviting him, if he dares, of course."

Details: Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine wants to reach a constructive agreement on a real end to the war and hold a productive meeting, where existing issues can be discussed and resolved.

"But if someone does not want to meet and, for some reason, cannot say so directly, then such invitations to Moscow appear. It is clear what is happening," the president said.

At the same time, Zelenskyy emphasised that any real format for a meeting between the leaders is acceptable to the Ukrainian side. "I do not know what result it will bring, but it will certainly produce more than what is happening today," he said.

"I have always said that I am ready for any format aimed at ending the war that actually works. But in Moscow or in Belarus, this is simply impossible – and it is absolutely clear why: because one of these countries is the aggressor that started and is waging the war against us, killing us, while the other country is its partner in these actions," the president concluded.

Background:

• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Zelenskyy is ready to meet with Putin in person to resolve two key issues within the framework of peace talks: territories and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
• After that, Kremlin propaganda media reported Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov as saying that if Zelenskyy wanted to meet with Putin, he could come to Moscow.
• Later, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the repeated invitation for Zelenskyy to negotiate with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, criticised the Ukrainian president for not responding to it.

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