Zelensky rejected Putin's offer to come to Moscow

Vladimir Zelensky in an interview with ABC News rejected the offer of Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold talks on a peaceful settlement in Moscow.

"If a person does not want to meet during the war, he, of course, can offer something unacceptable neither to me nor to others. ...It's the same as if I said that he should come to Kiev," he continued.

Zelensky added that he could not come to Moscow, while his country was subjected to rocket attacks and attacks every day, and expressed confidence that Putin "understands this."

On September 3, following a visit to China, Putin announced a proposal to hold talks with Zelensky in the Russian capital. Two days later, speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum, the Russian president reiterated that Moscow was the "best place" for high—level talks. He assured that the Ukrainian side "absolutely absolutely" will be provided with working conditions and safety. Putin considered calls to hold the summit in some other place to be "excessive requests."

Zelensky offered to hold talks with Putin in a neutral part of Europe, for example in Switzerland or Austria, or in Turkey. He called Budapest as a venue "controversial" because of Hungary's position on supporting Ukraine.

About the beginning of the preparation of the meeting of Russia and The Ukraine summit was announced by US President Donald Trump shortly after a summit with Putin in Alaska and talks with Zelensky and European leaders at the White House in mid-August. However, two weeks later, as CNN reported, citing sources, Trump is becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of visible progress in the settlement and is thinking about how much he should be involved in preparing a possible meeting between Putin and Zelensky. On September 4, Trump expressed the opinion that both of them were not ready to make peace, RBC reminds.