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Russia’s top diplomat said Friday that no meeting is planned between President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, casting new doubt on President Donald Trump’s push for a summit to end the war.
“Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in an exclusive interview.
The White House has been working to secure a summit location and date following Trump’s meeting with Putin in Alaska and subsequent talks with Zelenskyy and European leaders in Washington. But Russia has signaled that it is in no rush for a Putin-Zelenskyy one-on-one, and on Thursday launched one of its biggest aerial attacks of the war, hitting targets across Ukraine, including an American electronics business.
“President Putin said clearly that he is ready to meet, provided this meeting is really going to have an agenda, presidential agenda,” Lavrov said. He suggested that Ukraine was the one hindering progress toward a peace deal
“President Trump suggested, after Anchorage, several points which we share, and on some of them, we agreed to be…to show some flexibility,” he said, referring to the Aug. 15 meeting with Putin in Alaska.
“When President Trump brought … those issues to the meeting in Washington,” Lavrov continued, “it was very clear to everybody that there are several principles which Washington believes must be accepted, including no NATO membership, including the discussion of territorial issues, and Zelenskyy said no to everything.”
Lavrov added: “He even said no to, as I said, to canceling legislation prohibiting the Russian language. How can we meet with a person who is pretending to be a leader?”
Ukraine has not outlawed Russian, but Putin has long claimed, without evidence, that Kyiv has committed genocide against Russian speakers in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. He has also sought to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Zelenskyy, who was democratically elected president of Ukraine in 2019.
Zelenskyy said Thursday that Russia was trying to “wriggle out” of holding a meeting, accusing it of continuing “massive attacks” on Ukraine.
He has stressed that he is “ready” for a meeting with Putin, and urged a “strong reaction from the United States,” including tougher sanctions and new economic pressure, if Putin refuses.
Lavrov’s comments came after Russia launched its largest assault since early July, firing nearly 600 drones and 40 ballistic and cruise missiles overnight Thursday, including at a U.S.-owned Flex electronics factory in western Ukraine, where at least 15 workers were injured.
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Ukrainian lawmaker: It’s an ‘illusion’ Russia-Ukraine war can end ‘just by talking to Putin’
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