Analysis-Zelenskiy’s letter to Putin was intended for other ears

By Daniel Flynn

KYIV, June 5 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s open letter offering face-to-face peace talks to end the war in Ukraine was addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin but meant to echo through the corridors of this week’s St Petersburg investment forum, and beyond.

Zelenskiy published the letter on Thursday evening as Putin briefed foreign news editors at Russia’s premier business event. The previous day, Ukrainian drones had hit an oil terminal in St Petersburg, sending clouds of smoke billowing into the sky near the venue.

Ukraine believes sections of Russia’s elite – “officials, businessmen, and Russia’s partners” – want to see an end to a conflict that has left its $3 trillion economy stagnant, according to one Ukrainian official familiar with the letter.

The glitzy gathering has highlighted rival visions within Russia over the four-year-old conflict. 

While some participants have said Russia should fight on and gird for long-term confrontation with the West, others have emphasized the economic advantages of ending a war coming closer by the week.

UKRAINE SEEKS TO SEND SIGNAL OF CONFIDENCE

Zelenskiy has for months been repeating his call for a ceasefire and offer to meet Putin, only for Putin to dismiss them, as he did again on Friday.

The Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, insisted Zelenskiy was serious about reviving negotiations.

But Dmytro Iarovyi, associate professor at the Kyiv School of Economics specialising in political psychology, said the drone strike and “performative” letter had been a concerted attempt to shape the conference’s narrative.

He said the letter was intended to tell Russian society and Western governments – particularly U.S. President Donald Trump – that recent territorial gains and painful long-range strikes on Russia had put Kyiv in a much stronger position in any negotiations.

“Trump always says ‘Ukraine doesn’t have any cards’,” said Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, and Ukraine envoy during Trump’s first administration. “Well, Ukraine is now showing that it’s in a stronger position.”

Months of U.S.-backed peace talks have resulted in deadlock, with both sides sticking to their positions. 

Putin told the foreign editors that talks with Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, last August had already sketched out the conditions needed to bring an end to the conflict – an apparent reference to his demand that Ukraine cede the rest of Donbas, its eastern industrial heartland and military bastion.

But Zelenskiy now appears less inclined than ever to yield to U.S. pressure to cede territory. His letter said he welcomed U.S. involvement but that Ukrainian issues would “not be decided in Anchorage” but by Ukraine and Russia, which could no longer expect to take all of Donbas.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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