Russian President Vladimir Putin slapped down the idea of any face-to-face talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, while admitting his economy is tanking as swarms of Kyiv’s drones keep breaching Moscow’s defenses.
The strongman used his speech to business leaders and foreign delegates at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum Friday to trash an open letter from Zelensky requesting a sit-down aimed at ending the deadly four-year war in Ukraine, branding his request “boorish.”
“It is a way to create conditions for personal meetings and talks, or create an environment which makes any personal meetings impossible,” Putin told the crowd during a question-and-answer session.
“I think it’s the second.”
The Thursday letter – Zelensky’s first written directly to Putin since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – mocked the 73-year-old’s advanced age and stalled progress in the war, and slammed his 26-year grip on the Kremlin, labeling the bloody conflict a “personal choice” and a “war without real cause.”
President Trump added Thursday that “it would be great” if Putin and Zelensky sat down for talks.
But the Russian strongman shot it down, telling forum attendees he saw “no point” in meeting with his adversary.
“First, let experts work, work something out, and then we can meet to sign things,” Putin told the crowd, adding that there was still “work to do,” NBC News reported.
Putin also tried to downplay Russia’s economic tailspin while admitting that its deficit might surge this year – desperately claiming “inflation has slowed down significantly,” and expected it to hit about 5.2%.
Before taking the stage, he vowed to tighten Russia’s air defenses against continuous long-range Ukrainian drone strikes, acknowledging that some have still slipped past his defensive lines.
“To our regret, some of them break through,” he said of the drones, the outlet reported.
“Russia has an air defense system, we need to improve it, strengthen it, and we will do that.”
Putin’s comments came after Kyiv launched a massive drone blitz on Moscow’s largest fuel export hub in St. Petersburg Wednesday morning, just as he kicked off his glitzy annual “Russia’s Davos” showcase.
The humiliating strike hit just about 10 miles from the swanky venue, where high-profile guests were arriving as blasts rang out and clouds of smoke flooded the air after Russian air defenses failed to stop drones from slamming into Petersburg Oil Terminal.
Ukraine also battered the Kronstadt naval base and shipyard in Leningrad Oblast, with footage released by Kyiv officials showing damage to Russian warships, including the Baltic Fleet corvette Boikiy.
“We are certainly prepared and willing to reach an agreement with Ukraine through peaceful means,” Putin told a small group of foreign media, adding that Russia agreed to terms with Trump in August during bilateral talks in Alaska.
“Naturally, the Ukrainian side would like us to suspend the advances made by Russian troops. But it would be better to end the war by agreeing to compromises that were discussed in Anchorage.”
Russia, meanwhile, has escalated its attacks on Ukraine over the last month, with the US-led peace talks still stalled over Putin’s maximalist demands for Zelenksy to cede major swaths of its land to Moscow.
With Post wires.