Russia-Ukraine war: Putin rejects Zelensky’s offer to meet, calls his letter ‘crude’ after May 22 drone attack | Today’s news
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposal for a one-on-one meeting to discuss the more than four-year-old conflict, saying such a meeting would make no sense.
The proposal was outlined in a letter sent by Zelensky on Thursday, the first publicly known direct communication from a Ukrainian leader to Putin since the military operation in Ukraine began in 2022. In the message, Zelensky criticized Putin’s long stay in power and also included remarks aimed at the Russian leader’s age.
Speaking at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Putin called Zelensky’s public letter proposing a direct meeting “rude.”
“Is it a way to create conditions for personal meetings and conversations, or to create an environment that makes any personal meetings impossible?” Putin said during a question-and-answer session at the forum. “I think it’s the latter,” he said, according to the AP.
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Putin went on to say that an unnamed Russian businessman traveled to Kyiv last month and met with Zelensky to give him a proposal for a personal meeting.
“There’s no point” in having conversations
Despite the response, Putin said he saw “no point” in holding such talks, referring to the May 22 drone attack on university dormitories in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region. Moscow says the attack killed 21 people and injured dozens more.
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Responding to remarks about his age and length of time in office, Putin noted that several world leaders are older than him and stressed that “age is not the main thing, the ability to work is the main thing,” according to AP.
Putin also hit out at Zelenskyi over his controversial meeting in the Oval Office in 2025. He expressed gratitude to US President Donald Trump for “educating” Zelenskyi “in front of the whole world” and teaching him what Putin described as an appropriate dress code.
“A lot still needs to be done,” he said.
Acknowledging that US priorities have shifted, Zelenskyy said Ukraine could not afford to wait for the Trump administration to refocus on ending the war while Washington remained heavily involved in the conflict involving Iran.
Trump mentioned in Washington on Thursday that “it would be great” if Putin and Zelensky met directly.
Read also | Europe is beginning to think that Putin will expand the war beyond Ukraine
Putin had previously invited Zelensky to Moscow for negotiations, which the Ukrainian leader flatly refused. Last month, Putin said he was not ruling out a meeting in a third country, but only after both sides had a final agreement ready to sign.
On Thursday, Putin again rejected Zelensky’s call for an immediate ceasefire, arguing that Russia was seeking a broader and lasting settlement rather than a short-term pause in hostilities.
Meanwhile, in a speech at the forum earlier on Friday, Putin said emerging and developing countries are playing a growing role in the global economy, while the economic share of Western countries is declining.
According to him, Western countries are weakening the global economy and financial system with unilateral sanctions. He added that by freezing Russian assets abroad, these nations damaged confidence in their own currencies.
“Sanctions and the blocking of Russia’s sovereign reserves have irreversibly affected the position of international currencies, the dollar and the euro. Like Russia, any other country could lose access to its legitimate assets in dollars or euros, as well as to Western financial and payment systems,” he said.
