Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for face-to-face negotiations in a public letter addressed directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Thursday's letter, the first public letter Zelenskyy has written directly to Putin since Russia-Ukraine war began in 2022, was a sweeping critique of the Russian leader's 26 years in power.
Zelenskyy acknowledged shifting US priorities, saying it would be wrong to simply wait for the Trump administration to return its attention to ending the Ukraine war while it is remains heavily focused on the Iran war.
"I am proposing a meeting," Zelenskyy wrote.
Zelenskyy appeared to be trying to seize a pivotal moment in the war, as Ukraine has begun to regain some battlefield leverage largely through improved long-range strike capabilities that have complicated Russia’s advances.
At the same time, Moscow has intensified its deadly aerial campaign across Ukraine, seeking to exploit Kiev’s shortages and continued vulnerability to ballistic missile attacks.
He said the talks could be hosted by a neutral third country, ruling out both Moscow and Kiev as venues and suggested Switzerland, Türkiye or Arab states as possible hosts for negotiations.
"It is leaders who resolve the key issues. That has always been the case, and it always will be," he wrote. "I propose to set a clear date for such a meeting."
He said Ukrainian intelligence indicated Russia was considering plans to prolong the war into 2027 and 2028, while increasingly relying on ballistic missile strikes to achieve what its ground campaign had failed to accomplish.
Growing fatigue
Zelenskyy also accused Moscow of seeking to draw Belarus deeper into the conflict and of attempting to destabilise the situation around Transnistria, the breakaway Moldovan region backed by Russia.
The Ukrainian leader argued that Russia was increasingly feeling the costs of the war, pointing to drone attacks deep inside Russian territory, economic strain, fuel shortages, rising prices, and the necessity of more military mobilisation.
Zelenskyy claimed Russia suffered more than 30,000 soldiers killed or seriously wounded in May alone, saying Ukraine had "video confirmation" of the battlefield losses and that such casualty levels had been sustained month after month.
He added that Ukraine also continues to suffer painful losses despite what he described as a favourable casualty ratio.
He said Ukraine was prepared to implement a full ceasefire for the duration of negotiations and proposed an all-for-all prisoner exchange as a first step toward ending the conflict.
Zelenskyy also called for the return of civilians and children taken from Ukraine during the war.
"The world has not grown tired of Ukraine, as you long hoped it would. But there is growing fatigue with Russia," Zelenskyy said.
US attention on Iran
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy lamented dwindling US attention.
"Today we are not in focus," Zelenskyy said alongside visiting NATO chief Mark Rutte. "Iran is the number one issue for the United States of America, and then comes the issue of Ukraine. Unfortunately, we are in the queue of these wars."
Russian President Putin offered the same observation on Thursday, telling foreign journalists in Saint Petersburg: "We can all see and understand that the US administration is being forced to shift its attention and deal with this issue above all others."
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that it would be "great" for Zelenskyy to meet.
"I'm glad that they're maybe talking about meeting. I think we had a lot to do with it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "I think it would be great if they met. They should — get it done."
Trump had promised to end the Ukraine war within a day of taking office. He has pushed both sides to end the conflict, but his attention has largely been absorbed by the US-Israeli war on Iran.
"They're going to both make compromises, I suggested those compromises, and you know, we've had a lot to do with it," Trump said of Ukraine and Russia, without specifying.
