Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has published a lengthy open letter addressed directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling for a face-to-face meeting aimed at ending the war that has devastated both countries for more than five years.
In the letter, posted on his official X account, Zelensky argued that the conflict has reached a point where only the leaders of Ukraine and Russia can make the decisions necessary to bring it to an end.
“Enough of war. Ukraine proposes to end this war. This must be done honestly, with dignity, and with guarantees that the war will not be reignited,” Zelensky wrote.
The Ukrainian leader proposed direct talks with Putin in a neutral country, suggesting Switzerland, Türkiye, or a nation in the Arab Gulf as possible hosts.
He said there was little value in expecting negotiations to take place either in Moscow or Kyiv.
“After these 26 years, there is nothing for a Ukrainian leader to do in your capital — just as there is nothing for a Russian leader to do in Kyiv,” Zelensky wrote.
The letter is one of the strongest direct appeals Zelensky has made to Putin since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. While diplomatic contacts between the two countries have taken place through intermediaries, direct negotiations between the presidents have been absent.
Throughout the message, Zelensky accused Putin of choosing war over peace and argued that Russia’s leader had spent nearly half of his 26 years in power fighting Ukraine.
“Whatever you may say about NATO, geopolitics, or the Russian language, this war is your personal choice — a war without a real cause. That is how history will remember it,” he wrote.
Zelensky also claimed that Russia was paying a growing economic and military price for continuing the conflict, pointing to rising costs, restrictions, battlefield losses, and what he described as growing public fatigue inside Russia.
He argued that ordinary Russians no longer see benefits in a war with no visible end.
“They do not like gasoline shortages and constantly rising prices. They do not like constant restrictions. They do not like the fact that there is no end in sight to your war,” he said.
The Ukrainian president used the letter to defend his country’s resistance, saying Ukraine had survived repeated attempts to break its energy infrastructure and had maintained international support despite expectations that Kyiv would eventually collapse.
“We in Ukraine do not want a permanent war. We know very well that life without war is infinitely better,” Zelensky wrote.
The letter also touched on broader international politics. Zelensky suggested that the United States is currently heavily focused on tensions involving Iran and that Europe should play a central role in any future security arrangement connected to a peace settlement.
He proposed a full ceasefire during negotiations, an exchange of all prisoners of war held by both sides, and discussions on the return of civilians and children displaced during the conflict.
“Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations,” he wrote.
In one of the letter’s most personal passages, Zelensky warned Putin that while Ukraine would continue fighting if necessary, Russia’s leader should consider the long-term political consequences of an endless war.
“If you do not personally come to the conclusion that it is time to end this war, Ukraine will continue fighting for its existence,” he said.
“But you, too, will have to fight much harder for your own existence — not Russia’s, but your own.”
The Kremlin had not publicly responded to Zelensky’s letter at the time of publication.
The Russia-Ukraine war has become Europe’s largest armed conflict since World War II, leaving hundreds of thousands dead or wounded, displacing millions of people, and reshaping security policies across the continent.
