Zhelensky says meeting with Putin could end the war Deutsche Welle TV: This is how programming is obtained in Europe | D.W.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky met with Russian President Vladimir Putin this Saturday (04.23.2022) and called for an “end to the war.”

“I think whoever starts the war can put an end to it,” Zelensky told a news conference at the kyiv metro station. In addition, the Ukrainian leader reiterated that he was “not afraid” to meet with Putin if he was allowed to reach a peace agreement between the two countries.

“I have been insisting from the beginning that we should hold talks with the Russian president,” he recalled. “I do not want this (to meet Putin), but I must do it to resolve this conflict through diplomatic means,” he added.

Ukraine will drop talks if Russia kills troops stationed in Azovstal

The Ukrainian president, on the other hand, warned that if Russia kills Ukrainian soldiers rooted in the vast Azov Steel Steelwork, Mariupol, a city besieged and bombed by Russian troops.

“If our people are killed in Mariupol and so-called referendums in the Kherson area, Ukraine will withdraw from the whole negotiation process,” he said.

He said he was “ready” to “surround those who find themselves in a bad situation” and “in any form” the “transfer of the army to protect Mariupol”.

He lamented that “today is one of the most difficult days” since the start of the Russian siege of Mariupol in early March.

afp / dpa / rr