Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed his Russian counterpart in an open letter on Thursday June 4. In it, he invites her to a face-to-face meeting to negotiate the end of the war in Ukraine. “Ukraine offers to end this war through direct contact between you and us. I suggest a meeting,” wrote the Ukrainian leader. Among possible hosts for these discussions, he mentioned Switzerland, Turkey and countries in the Arab world. He said Ukraine was “ready for a complete ceasefire for the duration of negotiations†and added that Europe and the United States should participate in this meeting, reports The World. Furthermore, he accused Vladimir Putin of having made the war in Ukraine a « choix personnel ».
In his letter, Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that Russia’s resources were being exhausted and that Russian losses exceeded 30,000 soldiers killed or seriously wounded per month. According to him, Moscow will not succeed in winning the war in Ukraine. kyiv had already proposed an extended ceasefire during discussions, but Moscow had rejected this possibility, fearing that it would give the Ukrainian army time to strengthen. For his part, Vladimir Putin said he would be ready to meet his Ukrainian counterpart only if a peace agreement was fully finalized by the negotiating teams.
Conditions for ending the war in Ukraine
Ukraine has attacked Russia with drones, intensifying its strikes in retaliation for daily Russian bombings against its territory. “Ukraine will continue to fight for its existence”warned Volodymyr Zelensky who concluded his letter by warning: “When Russia is tired, change comesâ€. Vladimir Putin said he was ready to negotiate an agreement to end the war in Ukraine, which does not exclude total control of the Donbass by Moscow, a mining basin in eastern Ukraine. This condition was rejected by kyiv, which considers it a capitulation. In response to this letter from the Ukrainian president, Dmitri Peskov, spokesperson for the Kremlin, affirmed that “Zelensky peut venir à tout moment à Moscou”.
Thursday June 4, Vladimir Putin declared that Russia must “strengthen” et “better” its anti-aircraft defense after Ukrainian attacks, indicates The Cross. A Ukrainian attack in Simferopol, in the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia, left at least four dead and seven injured on the night of Wednesday June 3 to Thursday June 4. Furthermore, the European Union has opened the way for a formal resumption of accession negotiations with Ukraine. These were blocked by Hungary’s veto. But the representatives of the 27 in Brussels gave a preliminary green light to the official opening of a first negotiating group with Ukraine and Moldova, which represents “an important step on their path to European integrationâ€according to an official from the Cypriot presidency of the Council of the EU.
