May 23 – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday President Vladimir Putin was the only Russian official he was willing to meet to discuss how to end the war.
Zelenskyi, speaking via video link to an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, also said that given what he said was evidence of Russian actions against civilians under occupation, it was becoming more difficult to arrange talks with Russia.
Russia denies targeting civilians in a so-called “special operation” to drain Ukraine’s military capabilities.
“The President of the Russian Federation decides everything,” Zelenskyy said through an interpreter. “If we are talking about ending this war without him personally, that decision cannot be made.”
Zelenskyy said the discovery of mass killings in Russian-held areas early in the war, particularly outside of Kyiv, made it more difficult to arrange talks and he would rule out any talks with other officials.
Founder and CEO Klaus Schwab addresses delegates during the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, May 23, 2022, with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on a screen in the background. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
“I cannot accept meeting anyone from the Russian Federation except the President,” he said. “And just in case there’s an issue on the (table): end the war. There’s no other reason for any other kind of meeting.”
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have held sporadic talks since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in late February, but both sides say talks have stalled.
Zelenskyy said on Ukrainian television last week that it was impossible to stop the war without some kind of diplomacy.
In his speech to the audience in Davos, Zelenskyi also said that the war has a huge human cost for Ukrainians. The country’s armed forces were making strides, particularly near the second largest city, Kharkiv, but “the bloodiest situation remains in Donbass, where we are losing too many people.”
He added that any notion of using force to regain the Crimean Peninsula, which was captured and annexed by Russia in 2014, would claim hundreds of thousands of lives.
Reporting by Ronald Popeski, editing by Rosalba O’Brien