US pushes technical talks between Ukraine and Russia to prepare leaders summit – Politico
Steve Witkoff, US President's Special Envoy (photo: Getty Images)
The United States proposes to organize Ukraine–Russia talks at a technical level to prepare a trilateral leaders' meeting, Politico reports.
As an unnamed senior official of US President Donald Trump's administration told the outlet, US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff today, August 29, met with the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak in order to lay the groundwork for technical negotiations ahead of a possible trilateral summit.
According to the Politico source, if the negotiations take place, they will have to cover issues of territory, security guarantees and other topics, as well as pave the way for a higher level of discussions.
"What we're trying to do is put Putin and Zelenskyy together and create the opportunity to have a successful meeting," Witkoff said recently.
Meeting of Zelenskyy and Putin
Today, August 29, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Russian authorities would do everything to prevent a meeting with Ukraine at the level of leaders from taking place.
At the same time, yesterday, August 28, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin would obviously not happen.
In Moscow, meanwhile, no clear consent was given for a meeting with Zelenskyy. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that for a meeting it is necessary to thoroughly work out the issues that would be discussed at the highest level.
