After Vladimir Putin said in St. Petersburg that he sees no point in meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, a response from the Ukrainian president followed.
Zelensky said on Telegram that such a stance means that Russia is “choosing war again,” and called Putin’s reaction “weak.”
“He doesn’t want to admit that only he likes war”
“He just doesn’t want to end the war,” Zelensky added, arguing that Putin “doesn’t want to change anything and doesn’t want to admit that his war only appeals to him and those who make money from it.”
Unfortunately, the Russian side once again chooses war – everyone heard the response today. Weak response. He simply does not want to end the war.
I think many around the world were disappointed by that response. He does not want to change anything, and he does not want to admit… pic.twitter.com/En6BySTKPP
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelenskyy (@ZelenskyyUa) June 5, 2026
The Ukrainian president then said that everyone who supports Putin is laughing in St. Petersburg today, from which he concluded that this means that there should be less money and more pressure in Russia.
What did Zelensky write?
To recall, Volodymyr Zelensky sent an open letter to Putin, in which he sent him a personal invitation and offered him a face-to-face meeting to end the war. The letter was published a day after Ukraine launched a major attack on St. Petersburg, hitting a major oil depot and military targets on the same morning as Putin welcomed world leaders to the city for his key economic forum, the Kyiv Independent reported.
In the letter, Zelensky presents the arguments why Putin should end the conflict and sets conditions for the reopening of negotiations.
“This war is your personal choice”
“You spent almost half of your 26 years in power in Russia at war against Ukraine,” Zelensky wrote.
“Whatever you say about NATO, geopolitics and the Russian language, this war is your own choice — a war for no real reason. That’s how history will remember it,” he added.
In the letter, Zelensky recalled Russia’s failure to capture Kiev and crush Ukrainian resistance during the 2022 invasion, the devastating effects of international sanctions on the Russian economy, the huge human toll and growing discontent among the Russian population as the war drags on and is increasingly felt at home.
Putin replied
Vladimir Putin said that he currently sees no point in meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in response to his earlier open letter.
Speaking at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Putin said that previous direct meetings had not brought concrete results.
“So far experience shows that such meetings serve to buy time. We need agreements, not meetings,” Putin said.
