Ukraine: Zelensky calls Putin a “fucking terrorist” during kyiv peace talks

Did you miss the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes takes stock for you every evening. Here is the gist of this Sunday, September 6, 2026, on the 1,656th day of the conflict.

Fact of the day

The day after their meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner began talks in kyiv this Sunday. According to President Donald Trump, they brought with them a proposal intended to end the war between Ukraine and Russia.

They thus began talks with the Ukrainian president. The discussions with the Ukrainian president were “very significant”, Steve Witkoff said this Sunday. “We hope to continue this as long as it takes,” the latter continued to the press. He still added that the two parties should “compromise”.

“Let us hope that this trip will have made it possible to identify new avenues for moving forward. I think we learned a lot,” Jared Kushner said. Another session of talks involving the two American envoys, the Ukrainian delegation and European advisors, respectively the German Günter Sautter, the British Jonathan Powell and the French Emmanuel Bonne, also took place.

“I believe that each of these fundamental meetings brings us closer to peace,” Volodymyr Zelensky told the press. “We thank the United States for their support and President Trump for giving the American delegation the opportunity to be here,” he added.

Sentence of the day

“We are not ready to give up our freedom to this fucking terrorist Putin, that’s what we are fighting for. »

Questioned this Sunday by a journalist from the American media CNN, the Ukrainian president called Vladimir Putin a “fucking terrorist”. Before welcoming the two American envoys supposed to help find a peace plan, Volodymyr Zelensky assured that his people did not want to “fight all their lives”. “The price paid is high, the war takes away what is best about us: the best heroes, the best men, women and children,” he also recalled.

However, the Ukrainian president is ready to meet his direct enemy. This Sunday, he maintained that the territorial question, central to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, could only be resolved during meetings between heads of state.

“I want to stick to my position which is that such complex questions (on the territories) can only be resolved at the level of leaders,” he said during a press conference after his first talks in kyiv with Donald Trump’s emissaries.

Volodymyr Zelensky has long called for a meeting with his counterpart Vladimir Putin to resolve the question of territories, which the Kremlin refuses.

The number of the day

3. On the occasion of these new talks, Vladimir Putin decreed a cessation of strikes on kyiv for three days, from Saturday until Monday inclusive. For his part, Volodymyr Zelensky also announced a cessation of attacks on Moscow during the same period. But elsewhere, hostilities continue. At least three civilians were injured in Ukraine during strikes overnight and during the morning of Sunday, according to local authorities. In Russia, a man was killed during a Ukrainian drone attack in the Belgorod region, according to local authorities.

The trend

“It seems that the war will continue…” Despite his “positive” assessment of the talks with American emissaries, the war against Russia seemed likely to continue this winter, “for the moment” according to Volodymyr Zelensky.

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“We very much hope to reach agreements with our American partners and we are counting on the support of our European partners, if the war continues into the winter, which seems to be the case for the moment,” affirmed the Ukrainian president during the press conference.