Will Putin be up for meeting Zelenskyy? Here's what he told India Today at SPIEF

Key points

• A day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy published an open letter proposing a direct meeting with his Russian counterpart to discuss an end to the war, Vladimir Putin on Friday said he sees little value in holding such a meeting, arguing that previous Western-mediated negotiations allowed Kyiv time to strengthen its military position.
• Responding to a question from India Today's Geeta Mohan at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Putin said he was not opposed to meeting Zelenskyy in principle, but stressed that any summit should produce substantive outcomes rather than serve as a symbolic diplomatic exercise.
• "Zelenskyy asked for a meeting.
• I never refuse to meet.
• But meeting just for the sake of meeting, well, I've seen that," Putin said.