Zelensky says had proposed Putin meeting at G7

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday he had proposed a meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin at the G7 in France, but that Moscow was “not ready” for it.

Putin has repeatedly rejected offers for a face-to-face meeting with Zelensky to try to broker an end to more than four years of war.

G7 leaders were gathering Monday for summit in France’s Evian-Les-Bains.

“Before the G7 started, I’ll be honest, we gave message that we are ready to meet with Putin during G7,” Zelensky said in English as he visited a landmark Kyiv monastery damaged by overnight Russian strikes.

“Europeans plus America: this is a very good opportunity to meet all together and that’s why we (could) have been able to invite the Russian side,” he said, in comments televised by Ukrainian media.

Zelensky claimed Europe and the US had agreed to such a format but Moscow had “once again demonstrated that it is not ready to speak about this.”

He called for more pressure on Putin “until he will end this war.”

A source in the Ukrainian presidency told a small group of journalists, including AFP, that the proposal had been “conveyed some time ago through various channels, via intermediaries, diplomats, and intelligence agencies.”

“No clear response was given,” the source added.

Russia pounded Ukraine with deadly strikes Monday, killing at least 11 people.

Putin launched Russia’s Ukraine invasion in 2022, setting off Europe’s worst conflict since WWII.

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