Volodimir Zelenski said he would have no objection to meeting Vladimir Putin if both men were invited to the cumbre del G20 in Miami, putting the prospect of direct talks with Russia back into the frame while the war in Ukraine grinds on. He made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Misha Komadovsky of DW at a Canadian base in North Bay.
The timing matters because Zelenski paired that opening with a blunt warning about the winter ahead. He said Ukraine needs Patriot missiles to get through the cold months and announced a decision on 350 million dollars for missiles, specifically for the Patriot system. He also said Russia is producing 140 ballistic missiles a month, and that under OTAN-style calculations destroying that number would require a 1-to-2 response, or 280 missiles.
Zelenski said the goal is to have between 100 and 120 missiles available for the difficult months ahead, a level he described as enough to cover only part of the strain on Ukraine’s air defenses. He said 100 missiles a month is already an enormous challenge. In practical terms, his message was simple: the door to negotiations remains open, but the need to survive the winter still comes first.
The interview tied that military pressure to a broader diplomatic push. Zelenski said Ukraine can get Patriot missiles from Estados Unidos either from reserves or from production, but added that production capacity is not very large and that he does not know whether Americans will be willing to provide the systems. He also said he has good personal relations in Oriente Medio and is keeping a dialogue going there, while stressing that the Europeans who truly support Ukraine already have what it needs and should contribute everything possible to save lives.
That is where the friction sits. Zelenski is speaking about a possible meeting with Putin in Miami at the same time he is pleading for more air defenses, and there is no confirmation that Putin would agree to go, or that such an invitation is even on the table. He said only: “No lo sé. Ya veremos.”
Zelenski also used the interview to push a long-term line with Canadá. He said a declaration had been signed to establish a strategic partnership covering security, funding, energy, veterans’ policy, culture, relations and humanitarian issues, and said he and Mark Carney launched the partnership through contracts that include producing millions of drones for defense. He called that step historical. He also said the two recently visited Kiev were not limited to Moscow, calling that a sign of respect for the Ukrainian people.
On the next phase, Zelenski said the first pan-European air-defense system, Freya, should be ready by the end of December, after which it will be tested before moving into production. That gives his comments a clear outline: diplomacy is being kept alive, but Ukraine is still counting missiles, testing new defenses and waiting to see whether a meeting with Putin is more than an opening bid.
