A meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin is not forthcoming, despite earlier promises from Putin during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
This was stated by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to foreign media reports.
“A meeting between President Zelensky and President Putin will apparently not happen, despite the agreement reached between President Trump and President Putin last week,” Merz said.
At the August 15 meeting, Trump sought to organize a trilateral summit with Putin and Zelensky but later admitted that “Putin does not want to meet with Zelensky because he does not like him.”
Zelensky has publicly stated that Russia is sending negative signals regarding talks and the diplomatic track. Likewise, Finnish President Alexander Stubb criticized Putin’s demands as impossible to take into consideration during negotiations to end the conflict, while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney believes that “Putin is afraid to meet Zelensky to discuss peace terms.”
