Zelenskyy reached out to Putin through oligarch Abramovich, report says
Photo: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Getty Images)
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent a message to Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the end of May through an influential Russian oligarch, reports Financial Times.
On May 21, Zelenskyy asked Roman Abramovich to deliver a message to Putin about his readiness to meet at a bilateral summit.
Such a meeting would be the first in more than four years since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Two senior Ukrainian officials described the message sent through Abramovich as similar in content to Zelenskyy's open letter to Putin published on the president's official website on June 4.
What was in the message
In the open letter, Zelenskyy proposed holding a meeting of the leaders in Switzerland, Türkiye, or Arab countries — not in Moscow or Kyiv. The president emphasized that Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire during the negotiations, while the United States could monitor the ceasefire line.
The proposal also included an exchange of prisoners of war under an all-for-all formula and the return of Ukrainian children and civilians taken to Russia.
According to Zelenskyy, security guarantees should be developed with the participation of the United States and Europe.
The president stated that Russia's losses at the front in May alone exceeded 30,000 killed and seriously wounded, with 63% of them killed. Zelenskyy also noted that Russia is now completely dependent on China for the first time in its history and was forced to seek assistance from North Korea.
Putin outlined his own peace formula for Ukraine, mentioning compromises, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made a statement on peace negotiations that Kyiv described as absurd.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it a missed opportunity for Putin to exit a failed war.
According to the minister, after Putin's refusal, the situation for Russia will only worsen — battlefield losses will increase, the economy will sink deeper into recession, and international pressure will intensify.
