Indian Defence Expert terms Zelenskyy-Putin meeting 'crucial'

While speaking about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressing his willingness to enter into negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to resolve the crisis, Defence affairs expert SK Chatterjee said that meeting between the two leaders is crucial.

Notably, amid the war between Moscow and Kyiv, Zelenskyy on Saturday expressed his readiness to enter into negotiations with Russia in Jerusalem. He said that he requested Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to mediate peace talks.

Chatterjee stated that the venue of the meeting can be Turkey, France or Israel what so ever but the significant point is that the meeting must take place between these leaders and they should reach to some solution.

"Even if the meeting is held in Turkey or France who has been in touch with Putin during the conflict, the host countries will provide everything and the protection of the national leaders is quite guaranteed. What is important is that the meeting takes place," noted the defence expert.

He said that Zelesnkyy is open for the talks on the Ukraine crisis however we will have to wait for the response of the Russian President to this proposal. The defence expert also said that Israel is not involved in the war in any way and the place thus, is not a wrong choice for the meeting.

"I wasn't expecting Israel to be the venue of the meeting. There meeting in Israel, which is not involved in this battle in any way, is not a wrong place to be meeting in any case for either of the sides," he commented.

So far, Russian and Ukrainian delegations have met three times in Belarus to discuss the ongoing conflict. Russia launched a "military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, which it claimed was a response to calls from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk for protection against attacks by Ukrainian troops.

The Russian Defense Ministry continues to maintain that the "special operation" is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only and the civilian population is not in danger. However, the West has refuted these claims and has imposed sanctions on Russia.

A number of countries including the US, Canada, and Australia have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Russia, prompting many international businesses to leave the Russian market.

( With inputs from ANI )

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