Zelenskyy reveals details of meeting with Abramovich

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he met Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and told him he is ready to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin in any format and that Ukraine will not withdraw its troops from Donbas.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with Sky News

Quote: "Abramovich, he came to Kyiv. He said that, 'I have a message direct to you, and I want to get a message and take a message from you and to give it to Putin.' But he said that it has to be done silently without any kind of public messages. I said, 'Look, it's your choice. Okay, for us, it doesn't matter, public or unpublic.' But it's always with Russians in such a way. If they say something has to be between us, it means that tomorrow, not only we will know about it, but it's not a secret.

He came, and he wanted to give me the message that they want to understand what we are ready to do. I said, 'The question is not about us. You are fighting against us on our territory.' And I said to him about Donbas. It was the Kyiv message. And I said, 'No, we will not leave, and we will not go out from our territory. No, we will not give your victory in such a way, and you will not get it.' And we spoke about any kind of compromise, and I said that all the compromises after ceasefire. Ceasefire is the biggest compromise from our side to your side."

Details: Zelenskyy said he had told Abramovich he was ready to meet Putin, but not in Russia or Belarus.

Quote: "I said: 'You can choose any time from tomorrow. You can choose any place, any format. You can choose with President Trump. I'm sure that he will be ready to come, and we can do it with Europeans. I'm sure that everybody wants to help, or we can choose the way bilateral, just bilateral meeting.'"

Previously: The Financial Times reported that in May, Zelenskyy had passed a message proposing a meeting to Russian ruler Vladimir Putin through Abramovich.

Background:

• In his open letter of 4 June, Zelenskyy proposed that Putin set a date and meet to end the war, calling for Europe and the US to be involved in the Russia-Ukraine negotiations.
• On 5 June, Putin stated that he had read Zelenskyy's open letter and "sees no point in holding a meeting". The Russian leader also said that Zelenskyy had allegedly asked him for a meeting through a Russian businessman.

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