“I don’t see any point for now.” That was Vladimir Putin’s answer on Friday when he was asked at Russia’s annual economic forum in St. Petersburg whether he would meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian president had published an open letter to Putin on Thursday proposing a face-to-face meeting to agree an end to the war. The letter warned that Kyiv stood ready to fight on otherwise, and said Russians were growing tired of both Putin and the war.
Putin took offense at the tone. “This letter contains some rather rude remarks,” he said. “Was it a way to create the conditions for a face-to-face meeting or a way not to set up a face-to-face meeting? I think it was the second.”
The two men have not met in person since 2019, at a summit in Paris attended by the leaders of France and Germany. Putin has repeatedly told Zelenskyy he must pull his troops out of the rest of the Donbas region if he wants the war to end. Zelenskyy has rejected that demand as a call for capitulation, and has said giving up the territory would affect the fate of hundreds of thousands of people and leave Ukraine dangerously exposed to new Russian attacks.
Fighting and prisoners
Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone attack on a dairy factory in the region around Kyiv killed four people and wounded seven on Friday. Zelenskyy said the two sides also carried out another of their periodic prisoner exchanges, including service members he said had been held in Russia since 2022.
Putin’s forum remarks
At the St. Petersburg forum on Thursday, Putin kept to his hard line and said his troops were advancing every day. He added that US President Donald Trump’s peace proposals could end the fighting if Kyiv were ready to compromise. Manpower, industrial resources and willpower were on Russia’s side, he said. He claimed his army had recently pushed Ukrainian forces out of nearly 2,500 kilometres of territory, though he conceded Moscow had to improve its air defences against a growing threat from Ukrainian drones. Some Western and Ukrainian military analysts say Russia’s advance has slowed significantly and that it remains far from its stated goals.
Putin also said Russia had not yet used its Oreshnik hypersonic missile in real combat conditions against Ukraine. Russia first fired the nuclear-capable missile at Ukraine in 2024. Putin has called it impossible to intercept, which Western experts have questioned. On Friday he admitted that Ukrainian attacks have done some economic damage, but said he sees no threat to the economy and expects Russia to stay attractive to investors.
Washington
Trump said on Thursday that both leaders will have to make “certain compromises” to end the war. White House-led peace efforts have fizzled out, as the sides made no progress on key differences and the war in Iran drew more of the administration’s attention. Three days before his letter, Zelenskyy had publicly asked the US to sell Ukraine anti-ballistic missiles amid a wave of Russian attacks.
On Thursday the US House of Representatives voted 226-195 for the Ukraine Support Act, which authorizes more than $1 billion in assistance for Kyiv and up to $8 billion in support through direct loans, and imposes sanctions and export controls on Russia. It must still pass the Senate, where Republican leaders have not allowed votes on Russia sanctions legislation, saying they will wait for Trump’s guidance. If it did pass, it would likely be vetoed by Trump. Lawmakers from both parties have also asked why $400 million allocated for Ukraine months ago has not been disbursed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told senators he expected “news on that pretty soon.”
