A direct meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not currently planned, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, despite Putin’s willingness to engage if a concrete agenda is established.
No Planned Meeting
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy is not planned. He reiterated that Putin is ready for a meeting, but only if it has a specific agenda, a presidential program. “A meeting is not planned, I don’t dispute that,” Lavrov told NBC News. “Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when a plan for the summit is ready, and that plan is not ready.”
Russian Obstruction Allegations
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, accused Russia of actively preventing meetings. “We talked about the format of a meeting with Russia, with the Russian leader, bilateral and trilateral. But now we see that Russians are doing everything to prevent any meetings. Ukraine, unlike Russia, is not afraid of any meetings with leaders. We must force them to engage in diplomacy. We need really strong sanctions if they do not agree to a diplomatic solution to this war. If they do not want to end the war, we are counting very much on strong support from our partners. We believe that we must do everything to make the Russians hide from the meeting.”
Stalled Peace Talks
Recent discussions aimed at ending the war in Ukraine have yielded no breakthroughs. U.S. President Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin in Alaska over the weekend, but the conversation did not lead to a resolution. Subsequently, Trump met with Zelenskyy and leaders from Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Finland, the European Commission, and NATO at the White House.
Potential Trilateral Summit
Following the summit, Zelenskyy stated that he and Trump, along with European partners, affirmed their readiness for a trilateral summit involving Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington. The Kremlin confirmed that Putin assured Trump of his willingness to engage in talks in this format. Plans initially included bilateral talks between Ukraine and Russia prior to the trilateral summit.
Source: Gazeta,
