OTTAWA — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is ready to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin if the Russian leader is invited by the United States to attend the G20 summit in Miami later this year.
“Yes, of course. We have to come. We have to meet, to speak and make decisions,” Zelenskyy told German broadcaster DW at Canadian Forces Base North Bay on Friday.
In the interview, published Saturday during Zelenskyy’s visit to Canada, the Ukrainian president said the nature of any exchange with Putin was less important than its outcome.
“Results matter. That’s it,” he said.
Zelenskyy and Putin have met in person only once, during a Normandy format summit in Paris in December 2019.
Responding to Zelenskyy’s remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed to Putin’s previous suggestion that the Ukrainian leader could travel to Russia for talks.
“If he really wants to meet with Putin, Putin has previously said that he can fly to Moscow,” Peskov told Russian state news agency Tass.
The 2026 G20 summit is scheduled to take place in Miami, Florida, on Dec. 14-15. Putin last attended a G20 summit in person in 2019, although he participated by videoconference in 2020 and 2021.
Zelenskyy also outlined Ukraine’s air defense needs ahead of winter, saying Kyiv is seeking to secure between 100 and 120 interceptor missiles per month.
He claimed Russia is currently producing 140 ballistic missiles a month and said that, based on NATO standards, intercepting that number would require twice as many defensive missiles.
“You will never have 280 missiles per month, and between us, it’s a huge challenge to have even 100 missiles per month,” Zelenskyy said.
He said Ukraine could obtain the missiles from US stockpiles or production and was also discussing potential supplies with countries in the Middle East, without identifying them or providing details of the talks.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine also aims to receive and test the first prototype of FREYJA, a pan-European anti-ballistic missile defense project initiated by Kyiv earlier this year, by the end of December before moving toward production.
Source: Saudi Gazette