Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday he had proposed a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France this week, but that Moscow had rejected the idea.
“Before the start of the G7 summit, we made it clear that we were prepared to meet with Putin during the G7 summit, as [US President Donald] Trump and [French President Emmanuel] Macron would be present there,” Zelensky told reporters in Kiev.
He made the remarks while inspecting damage to the main cathedral of the Pechersk Lavra monastery complex following a major Russian air attack.
"The Europeans plus America - that is a very good opportunity to meet together, and that is precisely why we could invite Russia," the Interfax-Ukraine news agency quoted Zelensky as saying.
According to Zelensky, both the United States and European members of the Group of Seven major democracies had agreed to the proposal, but Russia had “once again shown that it is not prepared to discuss this."
There was no immediate confirmation from G7 countries that such an initiative had been made.
The remarks appeared aimed at increasing pressure on the Kremlin. A meeting between Zelensky and Putin would have been difficult to arrange at short notice.
Putin has said he would meet Zelensky only in Moscow or as part of a final settlement to the conflict, a prospect that remains distant after more than four years of Russia's full-blown war on Ukraine.
The Group of Seven - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - is meeting from Monday in the French resort town of Évian on Lake Geneva.
