June 05, 2026
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky published an open letter to President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in which he proposed the two leaders meet to agree an end to more than four years of war, warning that Kyiv stood ready to fight on otherwise.
In his letter, which the president's office said had been sent to other countries, including the United States, Zelensky said the majority of Russians had grown tired of Ukrainian missile and drone attacks, inflation and fuel shortages, and were ready for peace.
Zelensky said that with the United States focused on the conflict in Iran "it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention".
And the path to peace, he said, had to start at the frontline, "the line from which diplomacy must begin". Ukraine, Zelensky said, stood for "a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations. This is standard practice."
