Zelenskyy on letters to Putin and Trump: There were different goals, I got necessary results
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that his letters addressed to U.S. President Donald Trump and dictator Vladimir Putin produced concrete results.
He said this while speaking to the media together with the leaders of Nordic and Baltic countries, Censor.NET reports.
Letter to Trump
Zelenskyy said that over the course of one month, he had sent several letters to various institutions, including the EU, the United States, Congress and Trump, as well as to Putin.
"I had different goals. For example, when writing to the United States, I wanted to do everything to shift their attention somewhat from the Middle East to the situation in Ukraine. I cannot share all the details with you, but my country needs a very significant number of anti-ballistic capabilities. I got a result, but I cannot now share what that result was, but I did it," the head of state noted.
Letter to Russian dictator
He said that he wrote a letter to Putin with a separate goal, which he also managed to achieve.
"I had a goal when I sent the letter to Putin, and I think I got the result that was needed," the Ukrainian president said.
Zelenskyy did not specify what exact result he meant in the context of the letter to Putin.
Zelenskyy’s letter to Putin
- On 4 June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy published an open letter to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, in which he proposed a meeting.
- In the letter, Zelenskyy proposed ending the war "in a format between us and you" and setting a clear date for the meeting. Among the countries that could host such a meeting, the head of state named Switzerland, Turkey and countries of the Arab world.
- Ukraine is ready to fully cease fire for the duration of the negotiations, and the United States could provide monitoring.
- The Ukrainian president believes that a full exchange of prisoners of war under the all-for-all principle could be a good prologue to ending the war. Zelenskyy also stressed steps to return civilians and children who were taken away during the war.
- On June 5, Putin said he had "briefly" read Zelenskyy’s open letter in the morning and had "never refused" to meet the Ukrainian president, but was against "engaging in pointless talk" and "saw no point" in direct negotiations now.
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During the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin claimed that a Russian businessman had allegedly traveled to Kyiv for a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.
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Later, the Financial Times, citing four sources, reported that in May, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich had visited Kyiv at the invitation of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian leader tried through him to persuade Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to agree to direct peace talks.
As a reminder, on May 27, Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent an urgent letter to Donald Trump and Congress. The reason was a critical shortage of air defense systems.
