Zelensky Offers Putin Talks in US After Trump Marks 80th Birthday

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held separate calls with US President Donald Trump on Sunday as Trump marked his 80th birthday, with the leaders discussing how the more then four-year conflict could be ended.

France 24 reported that Putin’s call with Trump lasted just under an hour, according to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, who said Trump emphasised the need to end hostilities and stated his readiness to influence European allies and Kyiv toward that goal.

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Ukrainian drone attacks killed one person and wounded nine others overnight in Russia’s Oryol region, Governor Andrei Klychkov said Sunday, and another drone attack killed one person Sunday in Russia’s Bryansk region, local authorities said.

The same report said a separate drone strike hit fuel storage facilities in Russia’s Yaroslavl region, around 700 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, sparking fires, and Zelensky said the strike had hit “an oil facility that was important for the reserve of the aggressor state”.

In Kyiv, Zelensky also said he had discussed with Trump efforts to bring an end to the four-year-old conflict ahead of a G7 meeting in France starting on Monday.

At the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, which Zelensky said was badly damaged in a major attack by Russia that killed 10 people nationwide, Zelensky offered to meet Putin at the G7 summit in France this week or in the United States.

Zelensky told reporters in English, “We gave message that we are ready to meet with Putin during (the) G7, because Trump is there and Macron is there, so Europeans plus America.”

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He added that “Europe and the United States were agreed and Russia demonstrated again that...they are not ready to speak,” and he later wrote on Telegram that he had suggested to Trump that the two presidents meet in the United States.

Ukrinform reported Zelensky said he and Trump discussed a possible meeting in the United States in a format “where Putin would find it much harder to refuse, at least to President Trump,” and he said “additional pressure will be needed” if Russia rejects the chance.

The Jerusalem Post said Zelensky told reporters at the monastery, “This is an attack on our history,” as rescuers assessed damage to paintings and frescoes.

The Jerusalem Post said Russia’s overnight attack on Kyiv and the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Monday killed 10 people, with Tymur Tkachenko saying four were killed and 34 were injured in Kyiv and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko later saying a fifth person died in hospital.

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It also reported that Ukraine’s military said Russia launched 70 missiles and 611 drones overnight and that air defenses shot down 50 missiles and 582 drones of various types, while Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said Ukraine shot down only 15 of the 34 ballistic missiles launched overnight.

Zelensky said at the G7 meeting his priority would be securing more air defense systems to defend against Russian strikes, and he told reporters, “We will have a meeting with Europeans and also with President Trump; we will speak with him about how to push Putin to stop this war.”

Kyiv Post said Zelensky proposed a meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France involving Putin, Trump, and European leaders attending in Evian-les-Bains, and it said a Ukrainian official told Reuters that Kyiv informed both the US and French governments about the proposal and passed the invitation directly to Russian representatives.

The Kyiv Independent added that Zelensky said, “We will speak with (Trump) about how to push the Russian president to stop this war,” as it described U.S.-mediated peace talks as frozen since February.