Putin says he is ready to meet with Zelensky in Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to Ukrainian President’s offer to meet in the Donbas.
According to Putin, the leadership of Ukraine "has made a lot of steps that destroy Russian-Ukrainian relations."
"This concerns a number of problems in bilateral relations, it concerns the attitude towards the Russian Orthodox Church and its destruction, the attempt to destroy it. This applies to the Russian language and Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine, and Russian citizens who live in Ukraine. There are a lot of steps that we only regret," the Russian president said.
"If President Zelensky wants to start restoring these relations, we will welcome it. The question remains - what do we want to discuss at this meeting? If we are talking about discussing the problems of the Donbas, first the leadership of Ukraine should meet with the leaders of the "Republics”, LPR and DPR, and then solve problems with representatives of third countries, which is Russia. And if we are talking about the development of bilateral relations, we will welcome the President of Ukraine in Moscow at any time convenient for him," Putin added.
Earlier, the Ukrainian President recorded a video message in which he invited Russian President Putin to meet anywhere in the Ukrainian Donbas, where the war is going on.
The Russian Senate stated that "the proposal for a meeting does not make any sense. It's a statement made by a good actor."
Later, Putin's spokesman said that the president had received the text of the speech with a proposal for a meeting but may not have had time to read it.
In recent weeks, Russia has moved thousands of troops to the Ukrainian border. This is the largest buildup of Russian troops since the annexation of Crimea. The Ukrainian National Security Council said that they are monitoring the situation and preparing for any development of events.