Zelenskyy rejects Russia's peace proposal, wants face-to-face talks with Putin

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(4 Jun 2025) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4580724 ASSOCIATED PRESS Kyiv, Ukraine - 4 June 2025 1. SOUNDBITE (English) Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine: "If we will have a ceasefire, just, I mean a short one before leaders (proposed meeting between leaders), I think that first of all, this is a mood and spirit of the meeting will be that we are speaking about peace or we are beginning (talks) from the war." ++WHITE FLASH++ 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine: "We don't need to wait from Putin, especially from his person. We don't need to wait the time when he will be ready for the peace. And from him we can't wait for his initiative moving to peace. We just have to pressure on him and maybe we will get peace. And we are very close to this with sanctions and etc. But we need unity in it and showing position." 3. Zelenskyy leaving room STORYLINE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Russia’s proposal for ending the countries’ 3-year war is not doable and repeated his call for face-to-face talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Russia on Monday presented Ukraine with a “memorandum” setting out its conditions for a ceasefire, as well as key guidelines for a comprehensive treaty to end the conflict, in their second round of direct peace talks in just over two weeks. It included demands that Ukraine has previously said are nonstarters. Zelenskyy called for a truce with Russia ahead of a possible summit meeting with Putin, possibly also including U.S. President Donald Trump, in an effort to remove obstacles to a peace settlement. The U.S. has led a recent diplomatic push to stop the war. "If we will have a ceasefire, just, I mean a short one before leaders (proposed meeting between leaders), I think that first of all, this is a mood and spirit of the meeting will be that we are speaking about peace or we are beginning (talks) from the war,” Zelenskyy told a press briefing in Kyiv. Ukraine is ready to meet at any time from next Monday at a venue such as Istanbul, the Vatican or Switzerland, Zelenskyy said. A second round of peace talks on Monday between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul lasted just over an hour and made no progress on ending the war. They agreed only to swap thousands of their dead and seriously wounded troops. Also, a new prisoner exchange with Russia could take place on June 7 and 8, Zelenskyy said. AP video by Alex Babenko =========================================================== Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: [email protected]. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/98e344f9eb9443dbb82626b05b6b14a9