Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that he wants direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He said, “This is the only way to stop the war.”
The Ukrainian president said, “If you don’t want to go now – sit with me at the negotiating table, I’m free. I’m a normal man, sit with me.” Talk to me, what are you afraid of?”
Referring to photographs from Putin’s recent meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, he said on Thursday, “Sit down and talk with me.” Not sitting 30 meters away.
‘What do you want from us’
Addressing Putin, Zelensky said, “We are not attacking Russia and we do not plan to attack it. What do you want from us? Leave our land.”
He said, “No one thought that in the modern world a man could behave like an animal.”
Zelensky called on the West to increase military aid to Ukraine, saying Russia would advance to the rest of Europe.
He said, “If you don’t have the power to close the sky, give me the plane!”
‘Moscow must pay the bill’
Earlier on Thursday, President Zelensky promised Ukrainian citizens that the infrastructure damage caused by the Russian military offensive would be repaired and Moscow would have to pay the bill.