Zelensky explained why he needs a personal meeting with Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Kiev is open for any format of negotiations with Russia and the USA, but the key territorial issues can be resolved only in a personal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said this in an interview with the Czech publication Český rozhlas Plus.

First of all, we need to meet the three of us - Ukraine, Russia and the USA. Without contact with the Russian leader, our teams will not be able to agree on territorial issues," Zelensky stressed.

The head of state added that Ukraine would like to see Europe at a certain stage of the negotiations, as EU membership and participation of the Coalition of the willing are part of security guarantees.

The agreements on security guarantees with the EU are almost ready," he said.

Zelensky also commented on rumours about a possible exchange of Donbass territories for security guarantees.

I have not heard this directly from President Trump. The question is the price of such guarantees from the United States and Congress, - explained the President.

We will remind, last weekend in the UAE for the first time held negotiations between Ukraine, the United States and Russia. The US side assessed the meeting positively, and Kiev called it informative. After the talks, Axios sources suggested that a meeting between Zelensky and Putin could take place in the near future.

At the same time, the Kremlin said that only the format of the meeting in Moscow was possible, while Zelensky categorically rejected this option, but publicly invited Putin to Kiev.