Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has agreed to hold direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other powers to end Russia’s nearly three-year military operation in Ukraine.

Asked in an interview about the possibility of negotiating with President Putin, Zelensky said he would do so ‘if this is the only framework in which we can bring peace to the citizens of Ukraine’. He said 45,100 Ukrainians had been killed and 390,000 wounded in the nearly three-year war with Russia.

The Russian president announced in late January that he was open to negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine, but refused to hold direct talks with his Ukrainian counterpart. Putin said that if the Ukrainian president ‘wants to take part in negotiations, I will choose the people who will conduct the negotiations’.