As World Vision's Brianna Piazza crosses the border from Romania into Ukraine, the line of people stretches for more than three kilometers. Video / World Vision
Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday challenged Vladimir Putin to meet him in Jerusalem for peace talks and said "concrete proposals" to end the war in Ukraine were being exchanged between Moscow and Kyiv.
The Ukrainian president said the negotiations would be mediated by Naftali Bennett, the Israeli prime minister, and demanded direct talks with the Russian leader from a secret location in Kyiv, with Moscow's troops closing in on the capital.
Zelensky said Russia had brought a "fundamentally different approach" to talks after previously only issuing "ultimatums". He added he was happy to get "a signal from Russia" after Putin said he "saw some positive shifts" in almost daily negotiations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin last month. Photo / AP
But the Russian president did not show any inclination to end the war during a "very frank and difficult" 75-minute phone conversation with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, according to a French official.
The two leaders urged Putin to agree to an immediate ceasefire and find a "diplomatic solution to the conflict" in their second call with him in two days, a Bundestag spokesman said.
Macron and Scholz spoke to Zelensky before Putin. The Ukrainian president said he discussed alleged Russian war crimes and "prospects for peace talks" with them.
Speaking to foreign journalists, Zelensky said 1300 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the conflict began – the first time he has mentioned his country's own military casualties.
He claimed that more than 12,000 Russian soldiers have died, double US estimates. It is "a ratio of one to 10, but that doesn't make me happy", the president said at a heavily-guarded press briefing in Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the nation earlier this week. Photo / AP
Zelensky said Russia "will conquer Kyiv only if they kill all of us. They'll need to live in a world without us. They won't find friends among Ukrainians".
He said peace talks could not be held in Ukraine, Russia or Belarus because they were not neutral territory, adding: "Do I think that Israel can be such a land, and especially Jerusalem? I think so, and I told him [Bennett] that. I can't talk about the details of his talks with the Russian president. We take it positively."
The Israeli prime minister last week became the first foreign leader to travel to Moscow to meet Putin since the invasion of Ukraine. The two held hours of talks.
The Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers met in Turkey on Thursday for their first talks since the invasion, which led to opening of some humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians. Both sides have since accused the other of blocking those efforts.
Michael Brodsky, Israel's ambassador to Ukraine, said: "The idea to hold a summit in Jerusalem has also been raised before. If it can contribute, I think we of course must agree and take the idea forward."
Ukrainian officials denied reports that Israel was pressuring Kyiv to submit to unacceptable Russian demands such as the surrender of the Donbas and recognition of Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
It came after Zelensky issued a direct appeal to Russian mothers, urging them not to allow their sons to be conscripted into war.
He spoke in Russian as he said: "Do not send your children to war in a foreign land. Do not believe that they will be sent just somewhere for combat areas, or just somewhere in non-combat conditions.
"Check where your son is and, if you have even the slightest suspicion, any doubt that your son may be sent to war against Ukraine, act immediately.Do not give your son to death or captivity."
