Putin wants to meet only in Moscow
Against the backdrop of the tense situation, Ukraine's President Selenskyj invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to a meeting in embattled eastern Ukraine on Tuesday: He said he was ready to propose to Putin a meeting "in any place in the Donbass region where there is war". Selenskyj warned that millions of lives were at stake. Putin now agreed to meet with Selenskyj on Thursday - but only to discuss bilateral relations. Asked about a meeting as proposed by Selenskyj, Putin said he was "of course ready" to receive the Ukrainian president "at any time in Moscow" if it was a matter of talking about mutual relations. The Kremlin chief thus made it clear that he sees the pro-Russian separatists as Selenskyj's interlocutor in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.