Ukrainian President Zelensky Says Ready to Meet US President Biden before June 16

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is ready to meet with US President Joe Biden before American-Russian summit in Geneva on June 16, but such talks may be impossible due to 'a tight schedule of the US leader,' according to US-based Axios website.

"I believe such consultations should happen face-to-face, because many things just cannot be discussed over the phone," Zelensky said in an interview with Axios.

"I understand that due to the US President's pre-existing plans and his tight schedule they might well not happen, but that choice will be only his to make."

"As the guarantor of the Constitution of Ukraine, I myself am ready to defend Ukraine at any moment and at any spot of the planet, I am ready to meet with him and discuss all those details before his meeting [with Russian President Vladimir Putin]," the Ukrainian president said.

Zelensky also said that the US administration's representatives did not have consultations with the Ukrainian authorities ahead of the upcoming US-Russia summit.

"Not yet, and I believe that it is up to them," the Ukrainian president said. "However, I do think that it would be a big mistake [not to]."

The Putin-Biden summit in Geneva will be the first top-level meeting between the leaders of the two superpowers since July 2018, when the Russian head of state met with then US President Donald Trump in Helsinki.