moscow, JUNE 5 – Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with international news agency heads in St. Petersburg on Thursday that Russia was ready to reach an agreement with Ukraine through peaceful means based on the Anchorage understandings.
The Anchorage understandings refer to proposals discussed during Putin’s meeting with Trump last year in Anchorage, Alaska, including Moscow’s demand for full control of the Donbas region, which would require Ukraine to surrender the rest of its eastern Donbas region.
Putin said Russia agrees to compromises discussed in Anchorage. “The Ukrainian side must also agree to these compromises. Then the conflict will quickly come to a natural conclusion,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy published an open letter to Putin in which he proposed the two leaders meet to agree on an end to more than four years of war, warning that Kyiv stood ready to fight on otherwise.
In his letter, which the Ukrainian president’s office said had been sent to other countries including the United States, Zelenskyy said the majority of Russians had grown tired of Ukrainian missile and drone attacks, inflation and fuel shortages, and were ready for peace.
US President Donald Trump told reporters at an event at the White House on Thursday that it would be very good if Putin and Zelenskyy were to meet. Trump also said that both Russia and Ukraine would have to make compromises to end the conflict, but declined to provide further details.
On the venue for a potential meeting, Zelenskyy proposed setting a clear date for a meeting and said several countries had “traditionally hosted leaders to resolve issues of war and peace,” citing Switzerland, Türkiye and the countries of the Arab world.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Zelenskyy could come to Moscow any time if he wished to hold talks.
