Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed in an interview with Sky News that the Russian businessman who traveled to Kyiv to meet with him was Roman Abramovich.

“He came to Kyiv. He said I [brought a] message direct to you, and I want to take messages from you and to give it to [Vladimir] Putin,” Zelensky said. “But he said that it has to be [done] silently without any kind of publicity. I said it’s your choice — for us, it doesn’t matter.”

In Zelensky’s telling, Abramovich wanted to gauge what Kyiv was prepared to accept in peace negotiations. Zelensky told him Ukraine had no intention of handing Donbas over to Russia.

That was the “key message,” Zelensky said — Ukraine would not leave and would not hand Russia victory that way. He added that they also discussed what compromises each side was willing to make, and told Abramovich that any compromises were only possible after a ceasefire.

On June 5, speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Vladimir Putin said that a Russian businessman had traveled to Kyiv for a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky. According to Putin, Zelensky used the intermediary to convey a proposal for a meeting with the Russian president. Putin did not name the businessman.

The Financial Times later reported, citing sources, that the businessman who traveled to Kyiv to meet Zelensky was Roman Abramovich.