Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that he had proposed holding talks with President Vladimir Putin during this week's G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, but that Russia had shown no willingness to enter discussions. Zelenskiy made the remarks while standing at a historic monastery in Kyiv that was damaged in an overnight Russian attack.
Speaking in English, Zelenskiy said the United States had supported inviting Putin to the summit, which begins later on Monday, and that the presence of European leaders and U.S. participation made the meeting a suitable multilateral setting. "We gave message that we are ready to meet with Putin during (the) G7, because Trump is there and Macron is there, so Europeans plus America. This is a good, I think, very good opportunity to meet all together," he told reporters.
Zelenskiy added that Europeans and the United States were aligned on the invitation but that Russia "demonstrated again that...they are not ready to speak." A Ukrainian official said Zelenskiy had communicated the proposal directly to U.S. and French authorities - specifically the Americans and French President Emmanuel Macron - and that Ukraine had also forwarded the invitation directly to Russian counterparts but had received no clear answer.
Macron's office had not immediately provided comment on the matter, according to Zelenskiy's account. Earlier this month Zelenskiy had published an open letter to Putin offering a face-to-face meeting and suggesting the war was straining Russia's economy. Putin publicly responded that he saw no reason to meet and dismissed Ukraine's long-range drone attacks as not posing an economic threat.
On the same day as Zelenskiy's comments, at least 10 people were reported killed in overnight Russian strikes on Kyiv and the northeastern city of Kharkiv. Zelenskiy criticised Putin's actions as "cynical," saying the strikes came hours after the Russian leader spoke by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Looking ahead to the G7, Zelenskiy said his immediate objective would be to obtain more air defence systems to protect against further Russian attacks. "We will have meeting with Europeans and also with President Trump; we will speak with him about how to push Putin to stop this war," he said. The call for additional air defences points to Kiev's focus on immediate operational needs to reduce civilian casualties and infrastructure damage.
The situation highlights both diplomatic efforts to create a multilateral setting for potential negotiations and the continued vulnerability of Ukrainian cities to Russian strikes. Zelenskiy's proposal and the subsequent lack of engagement from Moscow, combined with ongoing attacks, underscore the uncertain prospects for direct, immediate talks to end the conflict.