Putin has repeatedly rejected offers for a face-to-face meeting with Zelensky to try to broker an end to more than four years of war.
G7 leaders were gathering on Monday for the summit in France’s Evian-Les-Bains.
“Before the G7 started, I’ll be honest, we gave message that we are ready to meet with Putin during G7,” Zelensky said in English as he visited a landmark Kyiv monastery damaged by overnight Russian strikes.
“Europeans plus America: this is a very good opportunity to meet all together and that’s why we [could] have been able to invite the Russian side,” he said, in comments televised by Ukrainian media.
Zelensky claimed Europe and the US had agreed to such a format but Moscow had “once again demonstrated that it is not ready to speak about this”.
He called for more pressure on Putin “until he will end this war”.
A source in the Ukrainian presidency told a small group of journalists that the proposal had been “conveyed some time ago through various channels, via intermediaries, diplomats, and intelligence agencies”.
“No clear response was given,” the source added.
Russia pounded Ukraine with deadly strikes on Monday, killing at least 11 people. (AFP)
