Russian President Putin rejected Zelensky’s peace talks offer, refused face-to-face meeting

New Delhi. Efforts to end the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine have once again suffered a major setback. Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s proposal for face-to-face talks. Putin clearly said that at present there is no justification for a direct meeting between the two leaders.

In fact, a day earlier Zelensky had written an open letter to Putin. In this letter he had proposed to sit face to face and talk to end the war. Zelensky had written that now the time has come to find a way out of this war and the two leaders should communicate directly.

But Putin rejected this proposal during Russia’s major economic forum held in St. Petersburg. He said that Zelensky’s letter did not seem completely honest. According to Putin, there were some comments in the letter which he considers rude.

‘The meeting makes no sense’, said Putin

President Putin said, “I do not see any point in such a meeting at the moment. First work should be done at the expert level, solutions should be prepared and after that a meeting of leaders can be held.” The Russian President also said that Ukraine is only interested in stopping the progress of the Russian army. He reiterated that the war would continue until Russia achieved its stated goals.

After Putin’s statement, Zelensky gave a sharp reaction. In his video message he said that Russia is once again choosing the path of war instead of peace. Zelensky said, “Unfortunately, the Russian side has again chosen war. This is a weak response and will disappoint many people in the world.”

What does Russia want from Ukraine, what is Putin’s objective?

Efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war have long been stalled. The biggest dispute is regarding the areas which have been occupied by Russia. Russia wants Ukraine to give up its claim on these areas, while Kiev is not ready for this.

Meanwhile, America’s attention has now become more focused towards the Iran crisis. In such a situation, Ukraine was hopeful that a new path could be found through direct dialogue, but Putin’s latest statement has currently weakened that possibility.