Putin was busy, but Kremlin responds to Zelensky's face-to-face proposal: He can come to Moscow anytime

The Kremlin is aware of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's letter and President Vladimir Putin will be informed about it later in the day, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said late Thursday, according to Reuters, AFP and Sky News.

Zelenskiy earlier published an open letter to Putin in which he proposed that the two leaders meet face-to-face to agree on an end to the war, warning that otherwise Kiev was prepared to fight on.

“Zelensky can come to Moscow at any time,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian state media, adding that President Putin had not yet seen the letter in question.

Putin was busy talking to representatives of the international press on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg when Zelenskiy's open letter was published.

The message of the leader from Kyiv

In the open letter to Putin, Zelensky proposed a face-to-face meeting with the Kremlin leader in a neutral country, challenging him to set a concrete date for the meeting, according to The Kyiv Independent, which published the full text of the letter.

In his message, the Ukrainian president called for an immediate reopening of peace negotiations and claims that Ukraine's power is growing.

He also spoke about how relations between the two countries have changed during Vladimir Putin's 26 years in power, to which “many in Ukraine had a positive attitude” at first, but “that is already in the past”.

“You spent almost half of your 26 years in power in Russia at war against Ukraine. Whatever you say about NATO, geopolitics and the Russian language, this war is your personal choice – a war without a real reason. This is how history will remember it,” the Ukrainian leader said in the letter to his Russian counterpart.

Zelenskiy suggested that Russians are losing patience with the effects of the war, from the actual attacks of Ukrainian forces with drones and missiles on Russia, mobilizations and the “shortage of gasoline and the constant increase in prices” or “constant bans”.

“You will not have enough money and political power to continue to buy the loyalty of the Russians, as you have done for 26 years. We will do everything possible to make sure that the world takes care of this,” the Ukrainian president continued.

The leader from Kiev also claimed that over 30,000 Russians died or were seriously injured on the Ukrainian front in May.

On the other hand, Zelensky said that Ukrainians do not want “a permanent war” and that, in his opinion, “the majority of Russians are ready to give a positive answer” in this regard.

“The choice is yours now. No more war (…). We see that the United States is giving all its attention to the issue of Iran, and it is wrong to simply wait for its attention to turn to the war in Europe. Ukraine proposes to end the war in the format between us and you. I propose a meeting with you,” Zelenskiy said in the letter addressed to Putin.