Putin 'would answer' if Zelensky calls, says a Kremlin aide who tells the Ukrainian leader to come to Moscow
Vladimir Putin, pictured in a post by RussiaNews on X, as the US considers lifting sanctions on Russia's state investment fund and has agreed to take deliveries of Russian diesel fuel.Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, whose office said on Sunday he has no plans to call Vladimir Putin, insisting a phone call alone cannot resolve the key issues ending the war.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov claimed on Sunday that Putin has "never refused talks" and would take a direct call from Zelensky — even as Ukrainian drones struck Russia's Kstovo oil refinery near Nizhny Novgorod, sparking a massive fire and mushroom cloud. Ushakov insisted that if Zelensky truly wants face-to-face talks, he should travel to Moscow, a proposal Kyiv has repeatedly rejected on security grounds.
Ushakov proposed the first rounds of any peace negotiations be held in a trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine format, with European involvement only later.
Ukraine's Presidential Office said Zelensky has no plans to call Putin, insisting a phone call alone cannot resolve the key issues ending the war.
Governor Gleb Nikitin of Nizhny Novgorod confirmed the Kstovo refinery sustained 'significant damage' after more than 100 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight.
