Zelensky expressed readiness for talks with Putin, but prefers to meet immediately together with Trump

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is ready to meet with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin but would prefer to meet immediately in a trilateral format together with U.S. President Donald Trump.

He made this statement at a joint press conference in Kyiv with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

“We have no agreements with the Russians; our arrangements are with Trump. We discussed a trilateral meeting, then he had contact with the Russian side and said: let’s first do a bilateral track. That was the Russians’ position, and then a trilateral one. I don’t want us to set any conditions that someone could later use as obstacles to ending the war. That’s why I said: we are ready. But preferably, in a trilateral format right away,” the president said.

It should be recalled that since June Zelensky has been urging Putin to hold one-on-one talks. Moscow has responded that such a meeting is possible only after all ceasefire conditions have been agreed.

Earlier, Zelensky refused to withdraw troops from Donbas or to grant Russian official status as a state language, both of which are Russian demands.