Russians on Tuesday welcomed the prospect of a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, though many doubted it would end more than three years of war.
US President Donald Trump, who met Putin in Alaska on Friday and Zelensky in Washington on Monday, announced that he would arrange face-to-face talks between the two leaders — their first in nearly six years.
Ukraine severed diplomatic ties with Russia after the February 2022 invasion, and Putin and Zelensky have not spoken directly since.
“It would be good if such an event took place. I am sure the conflict would end and everything would be fine,” said Roman, a 39-year-old musician in Moscow. “Many young people have died. It would have been better if such a meeting had taken place earlier.”
Vyacheslav, a 23-year-old civil servant, agreed: “It would have been better if the meeting had happened earlier. But there were too many interested parties, and it turned out the way it did.”
Russia initially hoped to capture Kyiv within days of the invasion, but withdrew after meeting fierce resistance. Since then, its forces have taken large areas of eastern and southern Ukraine, with tens of thousands killed on both sides.
Some Russians expressed scepticism. “Nothing will change,” said Ilya Denisov, a 19-year-old student from Saint Petersburg. “Ukraine should be divided. Leave Russia what it controls and go their separate ways.”
Others, like Tatiana, a 29-year-old Moscow resident, supported the talks. “If, of course, they come to a good result,” she said.
But not all welcomed the idea. Ksenia, a sales manager, rejected any compromise. “I am against the meeting. What is ours now must remain ours. People shed blood for this land, so it is ours.”
Russia currently occupies around a fifth of Ukraine. It annexed Crimea in 2014 and claimed Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, and Zaporizhzhia in 2022, though its forces do not fully control those regions.
Moscow has suggested freezing the front line in parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in exchange for Kyiv withdrawing from land it controls in Donetsk and Lugansk — a proposal Ukraine has firmly rejected.