Putin cites 'rude remarks' in rejecting Zelenskyy's open letter request to meet for war talks

Russian chairman Vladimir vladimir putin said fri he saw no conclude ‌to encounter Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Ukrainian president published an open letter proposing they hold face-to-face talks to agree to an end ​to the war.

Asked on stage at Russia's annual economic forum in St. Petersburg whether he would meet the Ukrainian leader, ‌Putin said: "I don't see any point for now."

Zelenskyy ‌published the letter to Putin on Thursday. It proposes that the two leaders meet ‌to agree on an end to the war, warning that ​Kyiv stood ⁠ready to fight on ⁠otherwise. He also said Russians were getting ​tired of ⁠both Putin and the war.

"This letter contains some ⁠rather rude remarks," Putin said in response. "⁠Was it a ‌way to create the conditions for a face-to-face meeting or a way not to set up a face-to-face meeting? I think it was ⁠the second."

The two have not met in person since 2019, at a multilateral summit in Paris over two years before Russia's invasion, along with the leaders of France and Germany.

Putin had repeatedly told Zelenskyy he needs ⁠to withdraw his ⁠troops from the rest of the Donbas ​region of eastern Ukraine if he wants the war to end.

Zelenskyy's appeal to Putin came three days after the Ukraine leader publicly called on the U.S. To sell Ukraine anti-ballistic missiles, amid a wave of Russian attacks.

White House-led peace efforts have fizzled out as the sides made no progress on key differences and as the war in Iran became of greater concern to the Donald Trump administration.

Trump on Thursday suggested both leaders will have to make "certain compromises" to end the war, without elaborating.

"They're two very good people, two incredible countries, they've to to stop."

In fighting on Friday, a Russian drone attack on a dairy factory in a region surrounding Kyiv left four people dead and seven wounded, Ukrainian officials said.

Zelenskyy said the two sides engaged in another of their period exchanges of war prisoners, including service members the Ukraine leader said had been held in Russia since 2022.

Zelenskyy has rejected that demand as akin to seeking Ukraine's capitulation, and has said ​surrendering the territory would affect the fate ⁠of hundreds of thousands of people and leave the country dangerously vulnerable to further Russian attacks.

In the first year of the war, Putin signed treaties that were met with international condemnation to absorb Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions into Russia.

At the St. Petersburg forum on Thursday, Putin stuck to his hard-line stance on the war and said his troops were advancing on the battlefield ​every day. But he also said U.S. President Donald Trump's proposals for peace could end the fighting if Kyiv was ready to compromise.

Democrat lawmakers and some Republicans in the U.S. Have grown impatient with the Trump administration, questioning why $400 million US allocated for Ukraine months ago under the National Defence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 has not been dispersed.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week to senators he expected "news on that pretty soon" as it was going through an interagency review. It's similar to what Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said in his own testimony weeks ago.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted 226-195 for the Ukraine Support Act, a bill that languished for months. The act includes measures ​to help Ukraine rebuild after the war, authorizes more than $1 billion in assistance for Kyiv, and up to $8 billion in ​support via direct loans and imposes ⁠stiff sanctions and export controls on Russia.

However, to become law, it must be passed ⁠in the Senate, where Republican leaders have not allowed votes on Russia sanctions legislation despite broad bipartisan support, saying they would wait for Trump's guidance.

If the act did pass the Senate, the bill would likely be vetoed by Trump.

In St. Petersburg on Thursday, Putin said that manpower, industrial resources and willpower were on Russia's side.

His army had "recently" pushed Ukrainian forces out of nearly 2,500 kilometres of territory, he said, though he conceded Moscow had to and would improve its air defence to contend with a growing threat from Ukrainian drones.

Some Western and Ukrainian military analysts ​say Russia's advance has slowed significantly, however, and argue Russia is still a long way from achieving its own stated military goals.

But Ukraine also is experiencing great challenges, as evident by Zelenskyy's plea for defence systems.

Patriot missile defence systems marked for Ukraine by Joe Biden's administration are still being delivered, given the production timelines for the complex weapons systems, according to a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

With the U.S. Engaged militarily around the world and 17 other countries using the interceptor, the think-tank said "deliveries may be affected by the Trump administration's efforts to prioritize U.S. Needs with future deliveries to Ukraine being pushed back in the queue."

Putin also said Thursday Russia had not yet used its Oreshnik hypersonic missile against Ukraine in real combat conditions. The Oreshnik, which Russia first fired against Ukraine ⁠in 2024, is a nuclear-capable missile with a range of over 5,000 kilometres. Putin has said before that it is impossible to intercept, though Western experts have questioned that assertion.

Putin ​admitted on Friday ​that though Ukrainian attacks ​have inflicted ⁠a ⁠certain ‌amount of economic damage, ⁠he sees no threat to ‌the economy and believes that ​Russia ⁠will remain attractive ⁠to ⁠investors.

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