Kyiv, Ukraine - Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin in a rare open letter to the Russian leader Thursday, shortly after the Kremlin chief had conceded Moscow needed to strengthen its air defenses amid a spate of Ukrainian attacks.

The Kremlin said Putin had not yet been shown the letter, but that Zelensky could meet Putin in Moscow "any time" – a proposal that the Ukrainian leader preemptively ruled out in his letter.

"Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us – and you. I am proposing a meeting," Zelensky said in the letter.

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"I propose to set a clear date for such a meeting," he said.

"Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations," he added.

Zelensky published the letter a day after Ukrainian drones hit Saint Petersburg, Putin's home city, hosting a major international economic forum this week.

Zelensky has repeatedly called for a meeting with the ex-KGB spy, saying only face-to-face talks will yield an agreement on territory.

Direct addresses from Zelensky to the Russian leader are rare.

Months of US-led negotiations have failed to bring the sides close to an agreement.

Russia, which invaded in 2022, has demanded Ukraine pull out of its eastern Donbas region – large parts of which Kyiv's army still controls – as a precondition to peace talks.

Speaking to foreign journalists, including AFP, in Saint Petersburg just before Zelensky's appeal was published, Putin had repeated his frequent questioning of the Ukrainian leader's legitimacy.

He said the question of whether Zelensky was Ukraine's legitimate leader needed "analysis", after his initial five-year term expired in 2024.

Martial law prohibits elections during wartime in Ukraine, and Zelensky has offered to stage a vote or referendum on a final peace deal if a full ceasefire is in place.

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Putin has said he would only meet Zelensky to finalize an already agreed deal, rejecting calls to meet before then.

"Zelensky can come at any time to Moscow," state media quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying after the letter was published.