Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Sunday he is willing to freeze the current battle lines between Ukraine and Russia as a framework for ending the more than three-year war, and has urged President Vladimir Putin to respond to an open letter laying out the proposal. Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv, Zelenskiy said freezing the lines would mean a formal cessation of active fighting while leaving the political status of occupied territories unresolved — a posture his administration has previously rejected. “We are not asking anyone to give up what is theirs. We are asking for a pause, a ceasefire, a chance to stop the dying,” Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy also confirmed that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich had acted as an informal intermediary, visiting Kyiv to deliver messages directly to the Ukrainian leader and transporting Zelenskiy’s responses back to Putin. “He came to Kyiv. He said I brought a message direct to you, and I want to take messages from you and to give it to Putin,” Zelenskiy told reporters. Abramovich, who was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in 2022, has not commented publicly on the channel.
The proposal represents the most significant shift in Ukraine’s public negotiating position since the failure of the 2022 Istanbul talks. freezing current lines rather than pushing for a full Russian withdrawal — something Ukraine’s Western partners have increasingly signalled they could accept as a realistic endpoint. The offer comes with Ukraine facing renewed pressure along the eastern front, where Russian forces have been making incremental advances in the Donetsk region for weeks.
The Kremlin said it had “taken note” of Zelenskiy’s comments but gave no indication Putin would respond to the letter. “We have seen the reports. There is no response to communicate at this stage,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow. Russian officials have previously insisted any settlement must recognise Russian sovereignty over territories Moscow claims to have annexed, a demand Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected as unlawful.
The United States said it was aware of Zelenskiy’s proposal and called on Russia to show “real willingness to negotiate.” State Department spokesman said the US remained committed to a just and lasting peace that respects Ukraine’s sovereignty. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the EU would support any Ukrainian peace framework “that does not reward aggression,” while noting the frozen-line option deserved serious examination.
Zelenskiy’s open letter marks the most direct diplomatic outreach since the collapse of the Istanbul negotiating track in 2022. Whether Putin responds — and whether the response moves beyond Russia’s previously stated demand for full recognition of its annexations — will determine whether the proposal has any prospect of leading to formal talks. The Ukrainian leader is scheduled to address a joint session of the European Parliament on Wednesday, where he is expected to present the freeze framework formally.