Ukraine needs to face reality and talk to Putin, Zelenskiy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday said Ukraine was not eager to talk to Russia's Vladimir Putin but that it has to face the reality that this will likely be necessary to end the war.

"There are things to discuss with the Russian leader. I'm not telling you that to me our people are eager to talk to him, but we have to face the realities of what we are living through," Zelenskiy said in an address to an Indonesian think tank.

"What do we want from this meeting... We want our lives back... We want to reclaim the life of a sovereign country within its own territory," he said, adding that Russia did not appear to be ready yet for serious peace talks.

Writing by Conor Humphries; editing by John Stonestreet

REUTERS