Lavrov rules out Putin–Zelensky summit until 'agenda in place'
Trump says he is trying to bring the two warring leaders together, which is like mixing 'oil and vinegar'
There are currently no plans for a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, though a future meeting is possible if an agenda can be agreed upon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated on 22 August.
“No meeting is being planned,” Lavrov told NBC News in an exclusive interview on Friday.
“President Putin said clearly that he is ready to meet, provided this meeting is really going to have an agenda, presidential agenda,” Lavrov said, suggesting that Ukraine is hindering progress toward a peace deal.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump said that he is trying to bring the two leaders together, despite the difficulties. “We’re going to see if Putin and Zelensky will be working together. You know, it’s like oil and vinegar, a little bit. They don’t get along too well, for obvious reasons,” he told reporters in Washington.
Trump raised the prospect of a meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian leaders after a 3-hour meeting with Putin at a US military base in Alaska last Saturday.
Zelensky then traveled to the White House for meetings with Trump on Monday.
Finnish and French Presidents Alexander Stubb and Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni joined Zelensky for the meeting.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also attended.
During the meeting, Trump called Putin to discuss a possible meeting with Zelensky to negotiate an end to the war that has dragged on for over three years and led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on Friday that Trump and Putin expressed support for continuing direct consultations between Moscow and Kiev.
On Thursday, Zelensky said Russia was “trying to wriggle out of holding a meeting” in an effort to continue the conflict. “Frankly speaking, the signals coming from Russia are simply outrageous ... They don't want to end this war,” the Ukrainian president said during an evening television address.
“They continue their massive attacks on Ukraine and their ferocious assaults along the front line,” he added.
Zelensky has said he is willing to meet Putin if the US and Europe, whose leaders continue to bankroll the war, agree on security guarantees to protect Ukraine once the conflict ends.
At the same time, Reuters claimed on Friday that according to Russian sources speaking with the agency, “Putin has compromised on territorial demands” made last year, which required that Kiev cede the entirety of four Ukrainian provinces claimed by Russia: Donetsk and Luhansk in the east (Donbas), and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south.
At the time, Zelensky rejected the proposal, saying it amounted to “surrender” for Ukraine.
However, the sources speaking with Reuters now claim Putin is willing to relinquish claims to Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, while demanding that all of Donbas become part of Russia.
Russia controls about 88 percent of the territory in Donbas and 73 percent of the territory of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, Reuters added.
Putin is also demanding that Ukraine renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral, and keep western troops out of the country, the sources added.