Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was open to face-to-face negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, reversing his earlier stance of refusing to meet with the Russian leader.

Speaking to British journalist Piers Morgan in an interview posted on social media on February 5, Zelenskiy said: "If that is the only set-up in which we can bring peace to the citizens of Ukraine and not lose people, definitely we will go for this set-up," as cited by AFP.  

Zelenskiy said the format of this imagined meeting would include four participants, without naming the other participants.

The Kremlin has said repeatedly that it is open to talks but has been pushing for a bilateral meeting between Putin and Trump that would exclude Ukraine. The Kremlin also said that it was “too early” to talk about four-way talks that would include representatives from Russia, the US, the EU and Ukraine.

Putin has ruled out direct talks between himself and Zelenskiy. The Kremlin has questioned Zelenskiy’s legitimacy to represent Ukraine after his presidential term in office officially expired last May. However, the Ukrainian constitution precludes holding elections while the country is under martial law.

In addition, Zelenskiy banned himself from meeting Putin in person by decree in October 2022, a fact that Putin has repeatedly highlighted. The decree followed a decision by Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, which declared that talks with Putin were "impossible."

The first call between newly installed US President Donald Trump that will be followed by a face-to-face meeting is currently being arranged. Trump has ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to find a way to end the war in Ukraine within his first 100 days in office.

Preparations for ceasefire talks are actively underway and widely expected to start soon but will remain very difficult as the two sides remain far apart. Zelenskiy has made it clear that he will not compromise Ukrainian territorial sovereignty, whereas Putin has said Kyiv has to take “realities on the ground” into account, widely interpreted to mean he expects Zelenskiy to make significant territorial concessions.

In comments on the mooted negotiations, Rubio said this week that “both sides will need to make concessions.”

His comments came amid high anticipation of talks to begin, with Donald Trump -- who has pledged to end the fighting -- back in the White House as the third anniversary of Moscow's invasion approaches.

Zelenskiy admitted that the talks would be fraught. "I will not be kind to him, I consider him an enemy. To be honest, I think he considers me an enemy, too," the Ukrainian leader said, reports AFP.

The war in Ukraine went badly in 2024 and the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) continues to suffer from a lack of men, money and materiel while the Armed Forces of Russia (AFR) are making steady progress in the Donbas. At the same time, Zelenskiy has complained that a lot of the financial and military aid promised to Ukraine has failed to show up.

"Regrettably, the support that is provided by our partners is insufficient to push Putin fully out of our territories," he said.