Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has for the first time acknowledged using Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich as a backchannel to the Kremlin, revealing the oligarch visited Kyiv to relay messages to Vladimir Putin about peace prospects. The disclosure came as Zelenskyy met the leaders of Britain, France and Germany in London on Sunday, securing their joint support for a proposal of direct ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia.

The Abramovich backchannel

Zelenskyy told Sky News that Abramovich came to Kyiv offering to take a message to Putin, but insisted the communication remain silent and without any public messages. The Ukrainian leader said his key message was that Kyiv would not abandon the Donbas region, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which Russia demands Ukraine cede. "We will not leave and we will not go out from our territory. No, we will not give you a victory in such way. And you will not get it," Zelenskyy said.

“He came to Kyiv. He said 'I am messaging direct to you. And I want to take a message from you and give it to Putin'. But he said it has to be silent without any kind of public messages.”

According to The Irish Times, Zelenskyy invited Abramovich to Kyiv last month in a failed attempt to convince Putin to hold direct peace talks. Four people familiar with the matter said Ukraine wanted to demonstrate its seriousness about negotiations, even as the US is distracted by the war in the Middle East. Putin confirmed on Friday that he met "one of the representatives of our business circles" on May 21 after his trip to Kyiv, but said he saw no point in meeting Zelenskyy.

European backing in London

Following talks at 10 Downing Street, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz issued a joint statement with Zelenskyy supporting "the proposal for a direct dialogue between Ukraine and Russia — with active US and European participation — to bring about a ceasefire and support further negotiations." The leaders stated that the current line of contact should be the starting point for negotiations and that international borders must not be changed by force.

“The current line of contact should be the starting point for negotiations. International borders must not be changed by force.”

The leaders also underlined the urgent need to scale up production of interceptors and co-develop anti-ballistic missile and deep strike capabilities to combat Russia's Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missiles. No financial details were provided.

Zelenskyy's ceasefire position

Zelenskyy said he would accept a halt to fighting on the existing front lines as the fastest way to proceed with talks, but stressed this did not imply giving up territory. "It's the quickest way. But we want to stop the war in a way where the war will not come back. It's not the idea just to freeze, but the quickest way is to freeze and to move it to a diplomatic setting," he said. He again ruled out any meeting with Putin in Russia or Belarus, and reiterated his request for a face-to-face meeting, suggesting President Trump could be involved.

Military and diplomatic context

Russia's war has stretched into its fifth year. Ukraine's forces hold about one-fifth of Donetsk, and Zelenskyy has said Kyiv will not abandon the tens of thousands of Ukrainians there. On Sunday, Russia fired waves of drones and other munitions at Ukraine, with one attack reportedly damaging a nuclear fuel storage facility near the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Ukraine's shortage of air defence systems, partly due to depletion of US stocks during the Iran war, has left civilians especially vulnerable to ballistic missiles. Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet King Charles III on Monday.