Zelenskyy on meeting with Putin: 'Let's discuss the date and the place'
Photo: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukraine does not want to impose additional conditions for the start of dialogue with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and is expecting an agreement on a concrete date and place for the meeting, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, reports a correspondent of RBC-Ukraine.
He noted that he had spoken with US President Donald Trump about a trilateral meeting, which is necessary.
"Then he had contact with the Russian side. He said, Let’s first make a bilateral track, and this is a proposal of the Russians, he said, and then a trilateral one," Zelenskyy recounted.
The President added that he is ready for a meeting with Putin.
"I do not want us to set any conditions that later someone will use as obstacles to the end of the war. Therefore, I said, We are ready," he emphasized.
Zelenskyy added that Ukraine is ready to support bilateral and then also trilateral meetings.
"If President Trump says that exactly in such a format, we can further talk, we are ready to support a bilateral track, and then a trilateral one. Let’s discuss the date and the place. This is all that I have at this time," he declared.
Meeting of Zelenskyy and Putin
The idea of a bilateral meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin appeared after last week Donald Trump held negotiations with the Russian dictator in Alaska, and later received in the White House the Ukrainian president and European leaders.
At first, the format of trilateral negotiations was considered; however, after the summit in Washington, Trump proposed that Zelenskyy and Putin meet one-on-one. According to the media, the Kremlin proposed to hold negotiations in Moscow, but Kyiv refused. The White House instead was considering the option of Budapest; however, there is still no official confirmation of this.
Zelenskyy emphasizes that the meeting is possible only on neutral territory – for example, in Austria, Switzerland, or Türkiye. In Russia, meanwhile, they declared that the summit may take place only after the agreement of all key issues, and for now, the sides have not yet approached this.
The Ukrainian president is convinced: Putin is trying to avoid negotiations at the level of leaders.
