The US's "extremely frank" conversations with Putin and Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be willing to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at a G20 summit in December, in an interview released Saturday, as efforts intensify to end the conflict.

The US is seeking to kick-start long-stalled negotiations to find a solution to the conflict, Europe's deadliest since World War II, with US negotiators recently visiting Kyiv and Moscow and President Donald Trump and Putin this week holding talks on the conflict over the phone.

The US holds this year's presidency of the Group of 20 major economies, which comprises 19 countries plus the European Union and the African Union, and culminates in a leaders' summit in Miami in December.

Russia's finance minister has already attended one G20 meeting, causing discomfort among some of Ukraine's allies, and a Russian diplomat said Saturday that Moscow will also send some officials to a G20 energy meeting in Houston next week.

Asked whether he would be willing to meet Putin at the December summit if both leaders were invited, Zelensky told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle: "Yes, of course.

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"It's not about words. What I will tell him or what he wants to tell me, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Matters only result. Result matters. That's it."

Last weekend, US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited Moscow and Putin and Trump also discussed the war earlier in the week in what the Kremlin termed an "extremely frank" and constructive hour-long phone call.

In the Deutsche Welle interview, which took place Friday in Canada, Zelensky said that Witkoff and Kushner's visit was a "good signal", and it was important the pair had visited Kyiv as well as Moscow.

Zelensky has also announced he plans to meet Trump in late September, as the US pushes for fresh face-to-face talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

Asked about Ukraine's position ahead of possible negotiations, Zelensky responded: "Ukraine now is much more stronger than last year on the battlefield."

Russia was sustaining heavy battlefield losses, paying a "big price" for "very slow moves on the battlefield," he said.

"That's why we think that we have now good position for negotiations."

Ukraine has said the talks could happen as early as this month, but Russia on Monday said it was "too early" to discuss a venue or dates.