Putin says he’s open to meeting Zelenskyy, even as he denies his legitimacy

Days after a Russian attack on Kyiv destroyed apartment blocks and killed 28 people, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied in remarks published Thursday that Moscow was targeting civilians and said he was open to meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, even while still questioning his legitimacy.

Putin spoke to international news agencies late Wednesday on the margins of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum as the U.S.-sponsored peace process has been faltering, with little progress toward any kind of cessation of hostilities.

Putin said negotiations between working groups could resume next week but said he would meet with Zelenskyy only after all details of a peace deal were hammered out, and even then, he suggested that the democratically elected Ukrainian leader would not have a legal right to sign the agreement.

“We are ready to meet, and by the way, I said I am ready to meet with everyone, including Zelenskyy,” Putin said. “But that is not the question. The question is who will sign the documents,” he said, repeating a central piece of Kremlin propaganda that denies Zelenskyy’s political legitimacy.

Russia’s demands of Ukraine as a condition for peace have not changed and amount to Kyiv’s capitulation: agreement never to join NATO, to be neutral, to give up five Ukrainian regions, including territory that Russia does not even occupy, to slash the size of its military and to end Western military support.

On Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha noted that it had been 100 days since Ukraine accepted the U.S.-proposed ceasefire, while Russia continues to demand numerous conditions before considering suspending hostilities.

“100 days of Russian manipulations and missed opportunities to end the war. 100 days of Russia escalating terror against Ukraine rather than ending it,” he tweeted.

Despite Trump offering Russia a series of major concessions, including endorsing its demand to exclude Ukraine from NATO and keep territory it has occupied, the peace process has stalled. The Trump administration has now appeared to take a step back from mediation efforts, with some analysts declaring that his effort to broker a swift deal was all but dead.

“We are ready for substantive negotiations on the settlement principles. All it takes is that the Ukrainian side is ready to act wisely,” Putin said, calling on Kyiv’s Western allies to press Ukraine to accept “the current reality” and stop fighting.

He said that if Kyiv did not agree to Russia’s terms soon, its position could worsen, boasting that Russia was advancing across the entire front line, a claim not supported by military analysts. Russia has been gaining ground on three fronts — near Sumy in northeastern Ukraine and in the Donetsk region near Pokrovsk and Novopavlivka.

“We will not allow Ukraine to have the armed forces that would eventually threaten Russia and its people,” Putin said. “No doubt, if we fail to agree with Ukraine peacefully, we will seek to achieve our goals by military methods.”

Russia hit a nine-story building in Kyiv on Tuesday, killing 23 residents, with five more killed elsewhere in the city.

In a statement posted Thursday, Zelenskyy said that the attack on Kyiv was “a reminder to the world that Russia rejects the ceasefire and chooses to kill.”

“I am grateful to all our partners who understand: Ukraine must become stronger every day. I am grateful to all those who are ready to put pressure on Moscow to make it feel the real cost of war,” he wrote on Telegram.

Despite video of the strike and reporting of the destruction, casualties and rescue operation that followed, including footage of a mother and father breaking down after their child’s body was pulled from the wreckage, Putin insisted Thursday that Russia targeted only military facilities, a line that Kremlin officials have unswervingly followed throughout the war, no matter the evidence to the contrary.

“The strike did not target residential areas. It was aimed at facilities of the defense sector, plants manufacturing military hardware, and this is what we are doing,” he said.

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• Francesca Ebel contributed.