Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected an invitation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for face-to-face negotiations, declaring he sees no purpose in a meeting at this stage of the war. Putin made the remarks on Friday at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russia's flagship annual business summit — often described as the Russian equivalent of Davos — as black smoke from Ukrainian drone strikes still hung over the city.

Zelenskyy had sent Putin an open letter on Thursday urging direct talks, arguing it was "wrong to simply wait" for international attention to return to the conflict, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The letter struck a confrontational tone: Zelenskyy noted that Ukrainian drones had struck St Petersburg — more than 1,000 kilometres inside Russian territory — on the eve of the forum, and remarked that Putin's age, after 26 years in power, was "beginning to take its toll." Putin, who declined to refer to Zelenskyy by name, calling him only "the author of the letter," dismissed its contents as rude and questioned whether it was designed to open dialogue or to make talks practically impossible.

Putin reiterated his longstanding position that a ceasefire must be preceded by substantive agreements, not followed by them. "The only point [of a ceasefire] is for the Ukrainian side to halt the advance of our armed forces. But we need agreements — not for six months, not for three months, but for the long term," he said, adding that experts should first produce concrete proposals before any summit could take place. Russia's stated conditions for ending the war include Ukraine's withdrawal from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions — four areas Moscow claims to have annexed — and a formal renunciation of NATO membership. Kyiv has consistently refused to cede territory, warning that doing so would only invite future aggression, pointing to Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 as a precedent.

Zelenskyy responded swiftly, calling Putin's answer "weak" and writing that Russia was "choosing war again." He repeated his call for greater international pressure on Moscow. The exchange drew attention from Washington: US President Donald Trump had expressed hope that a meeting between the two leaders could take place, calling it "great" if it happened.

The episode underlines the depth of the diplomatic impasse more than three years into the conflict. With neither side willing to move on core preconditions — Russia demanding territorial and security concessions before any ceasefire, Ukraine insisting on a halt to hostilities first — the gap between the two positions remains wide. Meanwhile, the human cost continues to mount: at least 13 people were killed and 70 injured in Russian strikes on Ukraine in the 24 hours surrounding the exchange, including four deaths after a dairy factory was hit near Kyiv.