{"id":623418,"date":"2026-06-05T22:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/623418\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T22:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:19:09","slug":"putin-rejects-zelenskyys-offer-to-meet-and-reaffirms-ukraine-war-aims-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/623418\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin rejects Zelenskyy\u2019s offer to meet and reaffirms Ukraine war aims | Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vladimir Putin has rejected an offer from Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> to hold a face-to-face meeting, insisting instead that Russia will achieve its war goals in Ukraine, including seizing all of the eastern Donbas region.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the St Petersburg economic forum, the Russian president described the open letter from his Ukrainian counterpart<\/a> containing the offer as rude. He refused to use Zelenskyy\u2019s name, referring to him only as its author. Asked if they could meet to discuss an end to the conflict, Putin replied: \u201cSo far I see no point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy\u2019s letter, which was published on Thursday, proposed a meeting in a third country such as Switzerland or Turkey. It said diplomacy should start from the current frontline and that Ukraine<\/a> was ready for a full ceasefire while negotiations took place.<\/p>\n

The letter also alluded to Russia\u2019s recent military setbacks<\/a> and the growing fuel shortages in Crimea caused by Ukrainian attacks on crucial supply routes. Hours before the forum opened on Wednesday, Ukrainian drones hit St Petersburg\u2019s oil terminal<\/a>, sending black smoke billowing into the sky.<\/p>\n

Putin shrugged off the embarrassing strikes on his home city and said his territorial demands were unchanged. He said Russia<\/a> controlled all of the Luhansk region \u2013 a claim Kyiv denies \u2013 and more than 85% of Donetsk region. He repeated his demand that Ukraine also give up all of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.<\/p>\n

\"UkraineUkraine strikes St Petersburg oil refinery \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Calling for \u201clong-term peace\u201d, he asked: \u201cWhat is this letter about? Is it a means to create an environment for a personal meeting? Or is it meant to make sure no personal meeting takes place. I think it\u2019s the second.\u201d Speaking to Russian troops, he said: \u201cKeep working, brothers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said Putin\u2019s rejection showed the Kremlin had no wish to end the conflict. \u201cUnfortunately, the Russian side is once again choosing war. Everyone heard the response. A weak response,\u201d he said in his nightly video address. \u201cI think this response will have disappointed many in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putin acknowledged Russia needed to strengthen its air defences but played down Ukraine\u2019s increasingly successful campaign against strategic targets. Ukrainian drones hit five Russian cargo ships in the occupied southern ports of Mariupol and Berdiansk, and in the Sea of Azov, overnight on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The head of Ukraine\u2019s unmanned systems forces, Robert \u201cMadyar\u201d Brovdi, said the vessels had been transporting military fuel and stolen Ukrainian grain. Russia said five sailors from Azerbaijan were killed. Video from their ship showed extensive damage and its bridge wrecked.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy\u2019s latest peace offer won approval from key allies, including Donald Trump and France\u2019s president, Emmanuel Macron. Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet Macron, the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, in London to inject fresh momentum into attempts to end the war.<\/p>\n

Observers suggested the letter had been written with Ukraine\u2019s allies in mind and with the objective of needling Putin. It included a pointed reminder to Russia\u2019s president of the lessons for its rulers from history. \u201cWhen Russia grows tired, change comes,\u201d it noted.<\/p>\n

A US delegation headed by the chair of the country\u2019s fine arts commission, Rodney Mims Cook Jr, attended the St Petersburg forum. Cook, who is in charge of Trump\u2019s White House ballroom project, passed on the US president\u2019s regards to Putin.<\/p>\n

From a position in the front row, he said: \u201cPresident Vladimir Putin<\/a>, it\u2019s very nice to see you \u2026 I love this city and I think you are aware of that. You have a beautiful home town. I do give a good hello from your friend President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing the plenary session, Putin shrugged off claims the Russian economy was falling apart because of the high costs of the war. The Kremlin\u2019s offensive has put the country\u2019s finances under immense strain, with rising prices, tax hikes and the highest borrowing costs in two decades hitting many citizens hard.<\/p>\n

The economy shrank by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2026, its first quarterly slump in three years, as strain from the war and western sanctions mounted. \u201cWe, of course, hear criticism from all sides that everything has collapsed,\u201d Putin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have descended to the same level at which eurozone countries have been living through for the past few years.\u201d Russia was pursuing a sovereign economy, he said, before making reference to Mark Twain: \u201cReports of my death are greatly exaggerated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ukraine has intensified its attacks on Russia\u2019s energy infrastructure in recent months, hitting oil depots, refineries and export facilities and threatening to dent Moscow\u2019s most important income stream. By freezing Russian assets abroad, western nations eroded trust in their own currencies, Putin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sanctions and blocking of Russia\u2019s sovereign reserves have irreversibly impacted the standing of international currencies, the dollar and the euro,\u201d he said. \u201cJust like Russia, any other country could lose access to their legitimate assets in dollars or euros, as well as western financial and payment systems.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vladimir Putin has rejected an offer from Volodymyr Zelenskyy to hold a face-to-face meeting, insisting instead that Russia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-623418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}