Exclusive: Zelensky-Putin meeting 'impossible' unless Trump ups pressure on Russia, Ukraine says
A face-to-face meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin won't happen unless the U.S. ups pressure on the Russian leader, a source in Ukraine's President's Office has told the Kyiv Independent.
Nearly two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump proposed the meeting as one of the next major steps in his effort to end the war in Ukraine, there has been little progress in making it a reality.
Trump himself acknowledged this on Aug. 25, saying Putin didn't want to meet with Zelensky because "he doesn't like him," and on Aug. 28 German Chancellor Friedrich Merz became the first Western leader to write the meeting off, saying it "obviously" wasn't going to go ahead.
Ukraine continues to take steps to make the meeting happen — President's Office Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov are heading to New York City this week where it will reportedly be one of the major items on the agenda.
"If there’s no pressure on Putin, (the meeting) won’t happen. If there is, then it’s possible," a source in the President's Office told the Kyiv Independent.
"It depends on the Americans," they added. "For now, (Trump) isn’t putting pressure. And clearly, Putin doesn’t want to (meet)."
The Kremlin's disregard for the peace process is also reflected in its recent actions in the war — a massive drone and missile strike on Kyiv on Aug. 28, killed at least 23 people, including four children, and injured more than 60.
Last week, another Russian attack on western Ukraine hit a factory owned by the American company Flex Ltd., which Zelensky called "very telling" urging Washington to impose "strong sanctions" on Moscow, something Trump continues to resist.
In Kyiv, there's little hope for any diplomatic breakthroughs, or any expectation that Trump will apply any pressure on Putin.
"Putin has already realized that, for reasons not entirely known to us, Trump doesn’t want (to impose additional sanctions on Russia)," Oleksandr Merezhko, a lawmaker from Zelensky's party, told the Kyiv Independent.
"He’s no longer afraid of Trump."
Volodymyr Ariev, a lawmaker from the European Solidarity party, estimates there’s a 90% chance that a meeting between Zelensky and Putin won’t take place.
"Putin is only waiting for capitulation, and I currently see no factors that would force him to make concessions — neither sanctions, battlefield defeats, nor isolation," Ariev told the Kyiv Independent.
"Zelensky will not agree to such terms, as after that he might not even return to Ukraine. I consider this meeting impossible. But I always leave 10% for unexpected circumstances."
The summit with Trump in Alaska on Aug. 15 reinforced Putin’s "worldview" — that he is deciding the fate of the war on equal footing with the U.S. president, without Ukraine’s involvement, Merezhko said.
While Putin hasn’t officially declined a meeting since Washington announced his readiness to engage, the Kremlin’s approach remains unchanged.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated on Aug. 24 Moscow’s false claim that Zelensky lacks legitimacy and said Moscow would not accept his signature on legal documents establishing terms for an end to the war.
