Zelenskiy: US must pile pressure on Russia to end war

UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the weekend called on the US to put more pressure on Russia to end the war, as diplomats converged on Miami for fresh talks.

- 

UKRAINE'S President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

(AFP)

Zelenskiy also said that Washington had proposed the first face-to-face negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in half a year, but later expressed skepticism that would help.

Zelenskiy said that only the US was capable of persuading Russia to end the war, and he called on Washington to increase pressure on Moscow to make that happen.

"America must clearly say: if not diplomacy, then there will be full pressure...Putin does not yet feel the kind of pressure that should exist," he said, stressing the need for more arms supplies to Ukraine and sanctions on the entire Russian economy.

The Ukrainian leader's comments in Kyiv came as Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev arrived in Miami where Ukrainian and European teams have also gathered for the negotiations, mediated by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

"Discussions are being held constructively," Dmitriev told reporters, according to Russian state media, adding that "they started and continue today, and will also continue tomorrow".