Zelensky insists on need for 'meeting' with Putin ‘in any format'

"I believe that without this meeting it is impossible to fully understand what they are ready for in order to stop the war," Zelensky said in an interview with the Ukraine regional media outlet Suspilne.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday insisted that a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin "in any format" is needed to end the war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Elysee Palace in Paris.(AP / File)

"I believe that without this meeting it is impossible to fully understand what they are ready for in order to stop the war," Zelensky said in an interview with the Ukraine regional media outlet Suspilne.

Zelensky has previously said that "without negotiations we cannot end the war" and called for a summit with Putin, but his comments on Monday were particularly insistent.

Several session of Ukraine-Russia talks have taken place via videoconferencing since the start of the Russian military action in Ukraine on February 24.