Zelensky calls for meeting with Putin 'to end Russia-Ukraine war'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called again for a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in an effort to "put an end to the war".

"I think that whoever started this war will be able to end it," he told a news conference at a metro station in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, adding that he was "not afraid to meet" Putin if it would lead to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

"From the beginning, I have insisted on talks with the Russian president," he said. "It's not that I want (to meet him), it's that I have to meet him so as to settle this conflict by diplomatic means.

"We have confidence in our partners, but we have no confidence in Russia," he added.

UKRAINE WANTS UNITED STATES TO BE ONE OF ITS SECURITY GUARANTORS

Ukraine wants the United States to agree to be one of its security guarantors to protect it from future threats, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.

Speaking at a news conference in Kyiv ahead of a visit by senior U.S. officials on Sunday, Zelensky said he expected concrete results, including an agreement to provide more weapons.

He also said he expected the United States to speak with Germany about providing Ukraine with weapons.

UKRAINE SEEKS HEAVY WEAPONS FROM UNITED STATES

Zelensky said Ukraine hoped to secure heavy weapons at talks with the U.S. secretaries of state and defence in Kyiv on Sunday, supplies that he said were vital for Ukraine to eventually retake Russian-occupied territory.

The Ukrainian leader warned that Kyiv would quit talks with Moscow if Russia destroyed "our people" surrounded in the war-torn city of Mariupol or staged referendums to create more breakaway republics on newly-occupied Ukrainian soil.
At one point in an emotional news conference, he said that he thought Russia could use a nuclear weapon, but that he did not want to believe that Moscow would.
He said that it was absolutely vital for Ukraine to obtain more weapons.
"As soon as we have (more weapons), as soon as there are enough of them, believe me, we will immediately retake this or that territory, which is temporarily occupied," he told reporters.

He used his news conference held in Kyiv's metro system to announce the imminent arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for talks on Sunday.
"Tomorrow we will discuss this exact list of weapons that are essential for us and the pace of deliveries," he said. "We expect this. We would like to have ... powerful heavy weapons."