An outstretched hand.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called again on Saturday to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin "to end the war" during a press conference inside a metro station in downtown kyiv.
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“I think whoever started this war will be able to end it”, affirmed the Ukrainian president, who repeated that “he was not afraid to meet” the Russian president if that would lead to a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
“I insisted from the start on negotiations with the Russian president,” he recalled.
And to add: “It is not that I want (to meet him), it is that I must meet him in order to settle this conflict by diplomatic means.
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“No trust with Russia”
"We have confidence in our partners, but there is no confidence with Russia", however declared Volodymyr Zelensky, who assured that kyiv would abandon the negotiations with Moscow if the Ukrainian soldiers entrenched in the vast metallurgical complex of Azovstal in Mariupol, in the south-east of Ukraine, are killed by the Russian army.
"If our men are killed in Mariupol and if pseudo-referendums are organized in the Kherson region, then Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiation process", affirmed Zelensky, who also said he was "ready" to " an exchange of our soldiers who defend Mariupol", in "any format", to get out "those people who are in a horrible situation, surrounded".
About Mariupol, the Ukrainian president spoke of one of the "hardest days" since the start of the Russian siege in early March.
