Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he will only agree to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after a common plan is reached with US President Donald Trump.
“We will never, under any circumstances, recognise our temporarily occupied territories as part of Russia,” he was quoted by Turkish state media as saying. “They are part of Ukraine.”
The Kremlin, for its part, said Putin was serious about negotiating a settlement to end the war and would prefer to do so peacefully.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov asserted, however, that a viable, long-term settlement is impossible without “a comprehensive consideration of security issues” in Europe.
Peskov also acknowledged that Ukraine has the right to join the European Union, but said Moscow has “a completely different position” regarding military alliances, such as NATO.
That means NATO should totally disavow a 2008 promise that Ukraine would be granted membership at some point, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Beyond Ukraine, Russia expects “progress” with the US on economic issues, said Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.
“We have a series of proposals, which our colleagues are thinking about. And I think that there will, possibly, be progress in the not-so-distant future, in the next two to three months,” the sovereign wealth fund manager told state TV.
The Russian economy has been stifled since the invasion of Ukraine by sanctions levied by the US and EU.
Russian drone attacks
The talks come as Ukraine steadily loses ground to the larger Russian forces in the grinding three-year war, with concerns that waning US support could push it toward an unfavourable settlement.
Ahead of Tuesday’s discussions, Russian forces launched a barrage of 176 drones at Ukraine, according to Kyiv’s military. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that most of the drones were destroyed or disabled by jamming.
