Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Russian businessman Roman Abramovich approached him in Kyiv with the offer of acting as a back channel and passing a private message to Vladimir Putin concerning potential peace talks.
The former Chelsea owner is alleged by Zelenskyy to have approached him “at the very beginning of the war” offering to become an intermediary “between Ukraine and the Kremlin” and asking for the “communication to be made public”.
Zelenskyy insists his message to Putin “was very simple, no territory of Ukraine is going to be given up, we are not going to give up,” adding he “would like to speak directly with the President of Russia” to discuss peace.
Mr Abramovich’s reported interaction with the Ukrainian President has not been publicly acknowledged by the Russian oligarch, who was personally targeted for sanctions by the UK due to his links with the Russian state and has previously taken part in abortive peace negotiations following the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict.
The comments come as a protracted conflict continues, with several reports of civilian casualties on the Ukrainian side in attacks by both drones and missiles, while Russia claims to have destroyed numerous Ukrainian drones on its borders and over its airspace.
Zelenskyy’s meeting in London with the UK, French and German leadership to seek enhanced air-defence assistance from these nations is also continuing.
