Ukrainian President Zelensky to meet Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he is ready to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Miami, the United States, to discuss ways to end the war. However, the Kremlin immediately rejected the proposal, saying that such a meeting was “impossible.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that the meeting could only take place in the Russian capital, Moscow. The G20 leaders’ summit will be held on December 14 and 15, although it has not yet been confirmed whether Putin will attend. When the Kremlin was asked whether an alternative location for a meeting between Putin and Zelensky was being considered, Peskov said that preparations for a meeting in Moscow were in place.

President Putin has repeatedly rejected proposals for a face-to-face meeting with Zelensky. Ukrainian officials say that increased attacks on key sectors, including the energy sector, could cause Ukraine’s GDP to shrink by 1.5 percent this year, and that the coming winter will be “very difficult.” The proposal comes as Washington is trying to restart negotiations that have been stalled over Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. U.S. negotiators have visited both Kyiv and Moscow, while President Donald Trump and Putin held a telephone conversation this week. Trump’s special envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, told a security forum in Kyiv via video link that he hoped to announce the “next steps” in negotiations to end the war within the next few weeks.

Russia’s finance minister has already attended a G20 meeting. When Zelensky was asked whether he would meet Putin at the December summit if both leaders were invited, he replied, “Yes, absolutely.” He said, “We have to come, meet, talk and make decisions. This is not just about words.” He added that only results matter.

In June, Zelensky said that during a phone call with Trump, he had proposed meeting Putin in the United States. He said Putin had ignored an invitation to meet at the G7 summit in France that same month. Last weekend, U.S. negotiators Steve Wyckoff and Jared Kushner visited Moscow and Kyiv. Zelensky described the visits by Wyckoff and Kushner as a “good signal,” saying it was important that they had visited Moscow as well as Kyiv.

Zelensky also announced that he planned to meet Trump at the end of September. Asked about Ukraine’s position ahead of possible negotiations, Zelensky said that Ukraine is now much stronger on the battlefield than it was last year. He said this meant Ukraine was in a good position for negotiations. Kyiv says negotiations could take place this month, but the Kremlin has said that discussing a venue or date is “too early.” Several previous rounds of negotiations have failed, trust between the two sides remains low, and there are no signs of any significant change in the positions of either Moscow or Kyiv. Both sides have intensified long-range attacks against each other in recent months, resulting in the highest number of civilian casualties since the early days of the war.