The Russian businessman who came to Kiev in May 2026 and met with Vladimir Zelensky was Roman Abramovich. About this I mentioned The Financial Times quoted four people with knowledge of the matter. It was he who was asked by the President of Ukraine to convey a proposal for a meeting to Vladimir Putin.
Abramovich has been a mediator between Kyiv and Moscow since the beginning of the Great War. In 2022, the Financial Times described the businessman as “close” to Putin, and Zelensky asked the United States to postpone imposing sanctions on him. According to interlocutors close to the businessman in the Financial Times, he is still involved in the negotiations, although his role has become less clear.
“They need him because he is the only Russian they are willing to put up with,” one Financial Times source said. “He gets along with everyone.” According to Abramovich, citing a source, Zelensky believes he can “solve everything thanks to the charm of his personal charisma at the meeting of leaders.”
The publication’s interlocutor says that the businessman compares the actions of the President of Ukraine with those of KVN, where Zelensky was a star before joining the world of business and politics. The source added: “Putin is not interested in this at all. It does not work with Trump either. But Zelensky is completely focused on this.”
Two senior Ukrainian officials said that Zelensky’s proposal for a meeting, which was relayed through Abramovich in May, was similar to an open letter to Putin published on the evening of June 4. But the tone of Mayo’s proposal was “less hostile,” they claim.
The Office of the President of Ukraine declined to comment. Representatives of the Kremlin and Abramovich did not respond to the Financial Times’ request.
Putin said on June 5 that a Russian businessman visited Zelensky in Kiev during the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The name of the businessman was not mentioned. According to the Russian President, he informed him three weeks ago that he had received an offer to visit Kiev. After that, the businessman went to Kiev, where he met Zelensky at his residence.
When he returned, he told Putin that Zelensky was offering to meet him. In response, Putin said that he had never refused a meeting, but did not see any point in “flowing from empty to empty.”
“It was, I think, on May 21,” Putin said. “On May 22, Ukrainian forces carried out a horrific terrorist attack on a university residence in the Luhansk People’s Republic, where children and teenagers were killed.” According to him, the businessman asked “what does it mean – they ask for a meeting and commit such terrible crimes.” He replied that he had no explanation, but that they were “contacting him now” from Kiev – and promised to call the Russian president later. Putin claims they never spoke again after that.
Later, Putin’s aide, Yuri Ushakov, said that “a fairly large businessman” who “many people know” had gone to Kiev, but did not give his name. On June 6, Ukrainian Parliament MP Alexei Goncharenko also quoted his sources I mentionedThat Abramovich went to meet Zelensky.