Zelenskyy says Ukraine pushed Putin 'a little' toward a potential meeting

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Ukraine pushed "a little” to bring his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to a potential meeting, adding that the format of any talks still needs to be agreed on.

"Now, Putin himself says that he is finally ready for real meetings. We pushed him a little toward this, and we have long been ready for such meetings ourselves -- now a format must be found," Zelenskyy said, according to the presidential press service, adding: "This war must be ended, and security must be guaranteed reliably."

The comments came after Putin said Saturday that he is ready to meet Zelenskyy in any third country, but only to finalize a peace agreement to end the ongoing four-year war.

Zelenskyy also said a 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange is being prepared.

“Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters has handed over the lists for one thousand POWs (prisoners of war) to the Russian side,” he said.

He also accused Russia of violating a ceasefire declared last week, reporting more than 150 assault operations, over 100 shellings, and nearly 10,000 kamikaze drone strikes over the past two days.

“In other words, the Russian army is not observing any silence on the front and is not even particularly trying to,” he said on Telegram.

However, he said there had been no large-scale missile or air strikes “as of now.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine refrained from long-range strikes over the past two days in response to the “absence of large-scale Russian attacks.”

“Going forward, we will respond in kind. And if the Russians decide to return to full-scale warfare, our sanctions for this will be immediate and tangible,” he said.

On Monday, Russia announced a Victory Day ceasefire for May 8-9, and Ukraine in response announced a truce starting May 6.

On Friday, Trump said on his Truth Social media platform that Russia and Ukraine agreed to a three-day ceasefire from Saturday till Monday and a 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange, expressing appreciation for the agreement by both Putin and Zelenskyy.