Zelensky asked for a "face-to-face" meeting, Putin: We do not negotiate with terrorists

2025-06-04 17:41:21Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Zelensky asked for a "face-to-face" meeting, Putin: We do not

"The Kiev regime, already illegitimate, is degenerating into a terrorist organization," Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying by the Russian state news agency Tass, after the attacks on trains overnight between Saturday and Sunday, which Moscow attributed to Ukrainians. The attacks, Putin added, were aimed at disrupting the Istanbul negotiations.

This is also why the Russian president has so far rejected Zelensky's offer of a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders preceded by a ceasefire. "We are ready to meet immediately," the Ukrainian leader said. "Why a ceasefire before the meeting? Because we will meet and if there is no agreement, no desire to reduce tensions and no idea how to end it, then the ceasefire will end on the same day. If we understand that we can continue the dialogue and are ready to take appropriate measures to reduce tensions, then we will continue the ceasefire. With American monitoring and American guarantees of mediation," Zelensky said.

But Putin said holding a summit with Zelensky would be tantamount to “negotiating with terrorists.” “How can such meetings be held in these conditions? What can we talk about?” Putin asked, quoted by Tass. “Who negotiates with those who rely on terror? With terrorists?” And there is no doubt about a ceasefire: “Why should they be encouraged by granting a ceasefire in military operations that will be used to supply the regime with Western weapons, to continue forced mobilization and to prepare for other terrorist acts similar to those committed in the Bryansk and Kursk regions?” Putin said.

On the night between Saturday and Sunday, two attacks caused the collapse of two bridges in the Bryansk and Kursk regions. In the first case, a passenger train was hit, resulting in seven deaths and over a hundred injuries. In the second, a freight train was hit.

Russian investigators claim that both collapses were caused by explosions and that the attacks were "undoubtedly organized by Ukrainian secret services."


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