The Kremlin has communicated that it had reached an agreement with the United States to organize a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, to be kept “shorter next week”. However, he excluded the possibility of an interview with Volodymyr Zelensky, despite the fact that the Ukrainian president has again urged a meeting as the only tool to “find concrete solutions” to the ongoing crisis.
According to some sources of the White House, cited by the New York Post and by politician, Zelensky’s involvement remains a central point: the same sources say that Trump will consent to meet Putin only if the Russian leader will in turn accept a face to face with the Ukrainian counterpart. “On the proposal of the American part, a meeting was substantially agreed between the presidents Putin and Trump,” said the councilor for the foreign policy of the Kremlin, Yuri Ushakov, present at the three -hour interview held on Wednesday in Moscow between the Russian president and the American envoy Steve Witkoff. “Now, together with American colleagues, we are starting the concrete preparation,” he added. “The option to keep the meeting next week was taken into consideration, and we are rather optimistic about it,” said Ushakov again.
During a meeting at the Kremlin with the president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed Bin Zayed al Nahyan, Putin indicated the Emirates as one of the possible places to host the summit: “We have many friends – said the Russian president – ready to help us organize events of this type. One of these friends is the president of the United Arab Emirates”. Regarding a possible three -way meeting that also includes Zelensky, Putin has observed that we are still “far from creating the necessary conditions”. Moscow has repeatedly reiterated that a direct comparison between Putin and Zelensky should only take place at the end of a negotiating process.
Ushakov reported that, during the interview with Witkoff, the latter only “mentioned” the hypothesis of a summit between Russia and Ukraine, and that “the Russian part decided not to comment on it entirely”. The Kremlin has not made statements regarding the expiry of the ultimatum placed by Trump for the cessation of hostilities, nor on the possibility that, otherwise, new sanctions against Moscow may be imposed. Ushakov defined the comparison between Putin and Witkoff “pragmatic and constructive”, adding that “ideas have been taken into consideration for further joint work”.
In the meantime, Zelensky has had telephone consultations with the German chancellor Friedrich Merz, the French president Emmanuel Macron and the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. The Ukrainian president reiterated that “Europe must be among the participants” to the negotiations for the end of the current conflict. Von der Leyen has assured: “The position of Europe is clear. We fully support Ukraine and we will continue to play an active role to guarantee just and lasting peace”. The German government spokesman, Stefan Kornelius, said that during their interview, Merz and Zelensky “agreed to keep in dialogue with European partners and the United States” and that “the chancellor confirmed his support to the Ukrainian president”.
Giorgia Meloni is also following the dossier in the first person. The prime minister had telephone conversations with Trump, Zelensky and Nahyan. As confirmed by Palazzo Chigi, the government leader was in particular compared with the interlocutors on the current efforts to achieve a ceased the fire and for a negotiating path that can guarantee a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, also in light of the most recent diplomatic initiatives promoted by the United States.
Returning to the Moscow-Washington axis, the Kremlin ok at the meeting between Trump and Putin does not consequently translate into the desire to end the war. The Kremlin seems in fact intent on continuing the war against Ukraine, but must deal with the position of the USA: the priority is to avoid excessive clashes with the Americans, but there is already the possibility of a more open conflict.
And there is another detail that cannot go unnoticed: the conditions seems to dictate Putin. They have not been involved in the discussions on peace nor Europeans or Ukrainians. And, as anticipated, there will be no three -way meeting with Zelensky. What he wanted, indeed he demanded, the tsar.
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