Zelensky sends a letter to Putin: "If you do not put an end to the war, you will have to fight for your own survival"

MoscowVolodymyr Zelensky warns Vladimir Putin that if he does not decide to end the war in Ukraine, he runs the risk of being a victim of a coup. In an open letter to the Russian president, the Ukrainian leader assures that it is not a threat, but that this is how Russian history works. "When Russia gets tired, changes occur," he writes. According to Zelensky, if Putin does not come to the conclusion that this conflict must end, "he will have to fight for his own survival".

The Ukrainian president has wanted to delve into the discontent of Russian citizens. "They don't like our drones and missiles. They don't like the gasoline shortage nor the constant price increases. They don't like the constant bans. They don't like your intention to organize a second wave of (military) mobilization. They don't like that their war has no end in sight," he points out. He then adds that Putin "will not have enough money and political power to continue buying the loyalty of Russians, as he has done for 26 years," and concludes by attacking him for his age: "Old age has begun to take its toll. The further the path, the more tired he will be".

Zelensky insists on proposing a face-to-face meeting between the two to resolve the obstacles that currently make a peace agreement impossible. "I suggest setting a clear date for the meeting," he says, while also proposing possible venues for the meeting, such as Switzerland, Turkey, or Arab countries. The Kremlin has already responded that, if he wishes, he can travel to Moscow, an offer that Zelensky rejects because "there is nothing that the Ukrainian leader can do" in the Russian capital. 

Ukraine wants to involve European countries in this process because, according to the Ukrainian president, they are the ones who "can truly act as guarantors" of the security of Kyiv and Moscow. However, Putin considers that the EU "cannot act as an intermediary" because it is arming Zelensky. From St. Petersburg, during a press conference with international news agencies, the Russian president stated that "people who have been insisting for years on the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia cannot be trusted".

On the agenda, Zelensky also reiterates one of the main Ukrainian demands: a complete ceasefire to precede peace negotiations. “An attempt to establish real silence is the best start to begin talking to each other,” he points out. But Putin does not want to hear about stopping the fighting before talks, and has made it clear that “a truce is not necessary to start negotiations” and has attributed this desire from Kyiv to the fact that he loses more territory on the battlefield every day.

Putin, against the reality of the front

The Kremlin leader continues with the triumphalist discourse, even though military observers indicate that the progress of the Russian army has stalled. “Our troops are advancing on all fronts,” he declared. Zelensky has warned him that there is no point in postponing the deadlines for conquering new regions, especially Donetsk, every few months. “He won’t capture it this year either,” he retorted. But Putin maintains that he will win the war because “the patriotism and the will of the Russian people are the main conditions for achieving all the objectives of the special military operation”.

The Ukrainian president also takes advantage of the document to remind him that the more than a thousand kilometers of distance separating its borders from the port of Saint Petersburg, attacked on Wednesday by Kyiv drones, “are not the limit” of its capabilities. In one of the few moments of self-criticism, Putin has acknowledged that Russian anti-aircraft defenses, which failed to stop the aircraft at the inauguration of its most important economic forum, need to be “strengthened” and “improved”. In any case, after criticizing the West for providing “a lot of drones” to Ukraine, he boasted that Russia does have systems to combat air attacks, while the Ukrainian army, he says, does not.