Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is “ready” to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin face-to-face to negotiate an end to the war between their countries.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes we need it. Even if we don’t love faces,” Zelensky told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria to laughter at the Yalta European Strategy Conference on Friday in Kyiv, Ukraine. The interview aired Sunday.<\/p>\n
Zelensky said finding peace first must involve a ceasefire.<\/p>\n
“So there is an order of the points of discussions. The first, we need meeting with outcome of ceasefire. And he is not ready for the meeting for today. It’s true. Yes. Then if he wants to speak about territories and about some historical crazy things and et cetera, I’m ready to speak with him. But not through Americans, not through Europeans. With their support, yes, but not through,” he told Zakaria.<\/p>\n
Last month, President Trump said that he began arrangements<\/a>\u00a0for a meeting between the two leaders during a phone call with Putin. The call came days after Trump and Putin met at a summit in Alaska<\/a>\u00a0and the same day the former met with Zelensky and European leaders<\/a> at the White House.\u00a0<\/p>\n Zelensky and Putin have not met in person since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.<\/p>\n