Russian oligarch and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich reportedly handed a note to Russian President Vladimir Putin from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — but Putin rejected the note’s contents.
Driving the news: The Times of London reported Monday that Zelenskyy wrote a note seeking peace between Russia and Ukraine.
- Abramovich handed over the note in March.
- In the note, Zelenskyy reportedly explained his terms for ending the war.
- Putin reportedly told Abramovich he didn’t accept the note, per Business Insider.
- “Tell him I will thrash them,” he said.
Of note: Abramovich and other Ukrainian peace negotiators recently suffered from suspected poisoning after joining a meeting in Kyiv in March to help negotiate peace between Ukraine and Russia, per Wall Street Journal.
- Abramovich recently helped with peace talks in Istanbul, where Russian negotiators said they would scale back their assault outside of Kyiv.
The bigger picture: Russia’s military said Tuesday it would “fundamentally cut back” and “drastically reduce” operations outside of Ukrainian cities Kyiv and Chernihiv in order “to increase trust” in peace talks, as I reported for the Deseret News.
- Ukraine reportedly proposed accepting a neutral status — which would mean Ukraine would not join NATO — in exchange for security guarantees from Russia, per Reuters.