Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky published an open letter addressed to Russian leader Vladimir Putin calling for face-to-face negotiations and a comprehensive ceasefire.
“Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us — and you. I am proposing a meeting,” he said in the letter, which was released on Thursday. “We must determine what kind of future awaits the generations of Ukrainians and Russians who will come after us. If you do not personally come to the conclusion that it is time to end this war, Ukraine will continue fighting for its existence.”
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He specified that any meeting should take place in a third-party country.
Zelensky’s letter emphasized Ukraine’s improved ability to hit Russian supply lines and long-range strikes deep into Russian territory, highlighting the argument that their ingenuity on the battlefield has had impacts on the long-term outlook of the war. Ahead of Putin’s annual economic conference in St. Petersburg this week, Ukrainian drones hit infrastructure facilities in the city.
Simultaneously, Russian forces recently threatened to increase their attacks on Kyiv, the capital, which is far from the front lines.
“Now, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians view it positively that our long-range drones paid a visit to the opening of your forum in St. Petersburg, covering a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers,” Zelensky said. “As you know very well, that distance is not the limit of our capabilities.”
The Trump administration had long been the driving force behind the diplomatic push to get a ceasefire, but they have not had the breakthrough they were hoping for, and the attention has since wavered since the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran.
“We see that the United States is fully focused on the issue of Iran, and it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention,” Zelensky said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the status of the conflict during multiple hearings on Capitol Hill this week.
“So, to this point, neither side has been willing to make concessions, particularly on the Russian side, necessary in order to bring peace about,” Rubio told lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. “We remain ready to play any role we can in that context of bringing a peace about, because we think the war in Ukraine, devastating war, has no military solution. It can only be solved through a diplomatic route, and it’s been unfruitful.”
The secretary noted that “Russia has always been capable of these long-range strikes,” but Ukraine’s ability to respond in kind means “the risk of escalation is real — more real than it was two years ago.”
RUBIO WARNS RISK OF ESCALATION IN RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR IS ‘MORE REAL THAN IT WAS TWO YEARS AGO’
Rubio added, “We’d love to see that come to a negotiated settlement. As of right now, the prospects don’t look great that either side is prepared to make the concessions necessary in order to reach an agreement, but we stand ready, and we’ve engaged and invested a tremendous amount of high-level time on that conflict over the last year.”
