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Zelensky invites Putin to meet at the front
Summary
A look back at a day when Kyiv proposed a face-to-face meeting in Donbas, days after a protest over the Kerch Strait.
What did Kyiv offer Moscow on 21 April 2021? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to a face-to-face meeting on the front line in war-torn Donbas, to negotiate an end to the conflict.
The invitation followed a separate dispute over maritime access. On 15 April 2021, Ukraine protested an alleged Russian announcement that, beginning the following week, it would close the Kerch Strait to foreign warships and state ships until October.
The two developments, reported within a week of each other, showed Russia–Ukraine relations under strain on both the diplomatic and security fronts. The proposal put the Donbas front line itself forward as the venue for talks aimed at ending the war.
