Putin has previously said that peace is possible only if Kyiv formally renounced any plans to join NATO. He has also demanded Ukraine surrender four regions in the south and east of the country, as well as Crimea, which Zelensky has so far refused to contemplate.

Russia continues to make gains at key spots along the frontlines of eastern and southeastern Ukraine, moving closer to key hubs such as the city of Kurakhove. Russia claimed on Saturday it had captured two more eastern settlements in the Donetsk region, although there was no confirmation from Ukraine.

Zelensky admitted the situation in Ukraine’s east was “indeed difficult”.

“There is a slow but steady pressure and advance of the Russians,” he said, adding that they had been waiting for the delivery of some weapons for 12 months.

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But he said Russia’s advances had come at a heavy price for Moscow’s forces, saying they were losing up to 2000 men a day.

“These are terrible losses,” he said. “They cannot keep advancing with such losses.”

G7 leaders on Saturday issued a message of unwavering support to Ukraine, saying Russia was “the sole obstacle to just and lasting peace”.

Trump has previously suggested that he would halt US aid if Zelensky refuses to negotiate a ceasefire with the Kremlin. But if Putin rejects peace proposals, Trump has said he could instead ramp up weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

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In 2022, Zelensky signed a decree that barred Ukraine from holding negotiations with Russia to end the war while Putin remained as leader.

Zelensky’s call for a “diplomatic” solution to the war comes a day after Kyiv rebuked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for holding a telephone call with Putin, his first in two years. That phone call was sought by Berlin despite Kyiv’s objections.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelensky, said in a post on social media that Western leaders would only embolden Putin by speaking to him on the phone. In the same post published on X, he suggested that Putin had no interest in a diplomatic solution to the war.

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