{"id":911185,"date":"2026-06-08T10:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/zelensky-willing-to-freeze-current-battle-lines-to-end-war-urges-putin-to-respond-to-open-letter\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T10:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:12:16","slug":"zelensky-willing-to-freeze-current-battle-lines-to-end-war-urges-putin-to-respond-to-open-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/zelensky-willing-to-freeze-current-battle-lines-to-end-war-urges-putin-to-respond-to-open-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelensky willing to freeze current battle lines to end war, urges Putin to respond to open letter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would support freezing the current front lines if it helped secure a ceasefire with Russia, describing it as the fastest path toward ending active combat and moving negotiations into a diplomatic phase.<\/p>\n

Zelensky<\/a> was asked by Sky News whether he would agree to freezing territorial lines where they currently stand if a ceasefire were reached.<\/p>\n

“Yes. It’s the quickest way,” Zelensky was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

“[But] We want to stop the war in a way where the war will not come back.”<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian leader stressed that a ceasefire should not merely pause the fighting temporarily.<\/p>\n

“It’s not the idea just to freeze, but the quickest way is to freeze and to move it to a diplomatic setting,” he said.<\/p>\n

\n

‘Not just to give Russia what it wants’<\/h2>\n

When asked whether freezing the front lines would effectively give Russia what it currently controls, Zelensky rejected the suggestion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“No, it’s not just to give,” he said.<\/p>\n

“To stay where we are means to give the people of Ukraine more possibilities to save their children, and for soldiers to come back. I think this is important for us.”<\/p>\n

\n

Zelensky urges Putin to answer his open letter<\/h2>\n

The Ukrainian President also discussed an open letter he sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a> on Friday proposing a direct meeting aimed at ending the war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Putin acknowledged seeing the letter<\/a> during an economic forum in St. Petersburg but said he saw “no point” in meeting Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Asked by Hakim about the letter, Zelensky explained why he chose to make the letter public.<\/p>\n

“I sent an open letter because I don’t know if he will read it or not,” Zelensky said.<\/p>\n

“An open letter means that he has to answer to us about what is important to his society.”<\/p>\n

\n

‘They live in a fantastic world’<\/h2>\n

Zelensky accused Russia’s leadership of misleading its population about the war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“His society lives in some fantastic world that they didn’t attack, that it’s not an aggressive war. It’s not serious,” he told Sky News.<\/p>\n

“That’s why for me, it’s very important to openly share where we are.”<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian leader said communication with ordinary Russians has become increasingly difficult because of restrictions imposed by Moscow.<\/p>\n

“They closed the internet and a lot of different things. We don’t have too much possibilities to give signals to this country, the country of aggression.”<\/p>\n

“They brought this big war to our country. They have to stop.”<\/p>\n

\n

Zelensky says Putin has become ‘not so loud’<\/h2>\n

According to Zelensky, Russia’s battlefield setbacks have changed the Kremlin’s public messaging.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“At the moment, Putin<\/a> is not so loud about the war because of Moscow’s losses on the battlefield,” he said.<\/p>\n

\n

Zelensky reveals contact with Roman Abramovich<\/h2>\n

In the interview, Zelensky also discussed contacts with Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Addressing reports that Abramovich had acted as an intermediary, Zelensky confirmed that the businessman had visited Kyiv.<\/p>\n

“He came to Kyiv. He said I brought a message direct to you, and I want to take messages from you and to give it to Putin,” Zelensky told the news outlet.<\/p>\n

According to the Ukrainian president, Abramovich requested that the communication remain private.<\/p>\n

“But he said that it has to be done silently without any kind of publicity.”<\/p>\n

“I said it’s your choice \u2014 for us, it doesn’t matter.”<\/p>\n

\n

‘We will not leave Donbas’<\/h2>\n

Zelensky said discussions with Abramovich included questions about possible peace terms, but he made clear that Ukraine would not surrender the contested Donbas region<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“It was the key message,” Zelensky said.<\/p>\n

“I said we will not leave.”<\/p>\n

“We will not give you a victory in such way.”<\/p>\n

The comments underscore Kyiv’s continued opposition to formally recognizing Russian control over occupied Ukrainian territory.<\/p>\n

\n

Abramovich carried messages to Putin, Zelensky says<\/h2>\n

Asked whether Abramovich had effectively become a communication channel between Kyiv and Moscow, Zelensky indicated that the businessman had agreed to relay messages directly to the Kremlin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“When he got the messages from me, he said he would go directly to Putin,” Zelensky said.<\/p>\n

The revelation provides a rare glimpse into behind-the-scenes contacts that have taken place during efforts to explore potential avenues for ending the war, even as official negotiations between Ukraine and Russia remain largely stalled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Alejandro Latson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would support freezing the current front lines if it helped secure a ceasefire with Russia, describing it as the fastest path toward ending active combat and moving negotiations into a diplomatic phase. Zelensky was asked by Sky News whether he would agree to freezing territorial lines where they currently<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":911186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31143,24660],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-911185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-willing","category-zelensky"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}