Vladimir Putin has “finally agreed” he will need to meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in person to resolve the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The two leaders have let their diplomatic teams conduct peace talks on the neutral ground since shortly after the start of the conflict on February 24. BBC correspondent Lysa Doucet said the Russian President is now believed to have caved to his top diplomats and accepted he will have to attend negotiations himself “at some point.”
Speaking to BBC’s Broadcasting House, Ms Doucet said: “The diplomats are talking, the negotiators are talking.
“And we understand they are making progress. And we understand President Putin has finally agreed that he will meet, at some point, President Zelensky who has been asking for a meeting since January.
“He hasn’t said it in public, he says quite the opposite in public.
“But we understand there’s many, many eager mediators – everyone wants the prize of saying they brought this war to an end.”
She added: “The Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet is very busy, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is very busy.
“They’ve said privately their understanding is that President Putin will meet President Zelensky when the time is right. But the time is not right now.”
The potential diplomatic development comes as Ukraine’s deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration warned the situation in her country is becoming “more and more severe”.
