Kremlin says Putin-Zelensky meeting will only take | Political News

Despite President Donald Trump‘s calls to end the Russia-Ukraine War, Russia’s top diplomat laid out the major disagreements between Moscow and Kyiv, signaling that the battle will not end as rapidly as the U.S. chief had hoped.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told NBC News on Friday that there was no deliberate meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, as major points, including security ensures for Ukraine and territorial disputes, stay unresolved.

Lavrov burdened that a summit might occur once “an agenda” is prepared.

“There is no meeting planned,” Lavrov said.

“Putin is ready to meet with Zelensky when the agenda would be ready for a summit. And this agenda is not ready at all,” he added.

President Trump met individually with Putin and Zelensky earlier this month in the hopes of securing a peace deal between the warring international locations, but so far, the 2 sides have failed to attain an settlement.

The White House is now trying to organize a Putin-Zelensky summit; however, Lavrov’s latest info reveals the diametrically opposed views of the 2 males, blaming Ukraine for hindering peace talks and the European leaders who accompanied Zelensky to the White House.

“They say, ‘We cannot allow defeat of Ukraine. We cannot allow Russia to win.’ They communicate in these phrases: win, defeat, and so on,” Lavrov said.

Ukraine is being pressured to give up the Russian-annexed Crimea, along with its jap Donbas area. Russia is also calling for Ukraine not to be part of NATO.

“Zelenskyy said no to everything,” Lavrov said. “How can we meet with a person who is pretending to be a leader?”

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but Lavrov said the nation had “proposed several times a peaceful resolution on a diplomatic basis.” Russia has also been unwilling to give up the 20% of Ukraine it occupies, insisting that Ukraine stay nonaligned and unarmed.

But Lavrov refused to use the time period “invasion” when requested about Russia‘s actions by NBC, instead utilizing the popular time period “special military operation.”

He acknowledged that Ukraine “has the right to exist,” but said that it must “let people go.”

Putin has, without evidence, accused Kyiv of committing genocide against Russian audio system in Ukraine‘s jap Donbas area, where his forces now occupy.

Lavrov said Russia does not have “any interest in territories,” but is worried about people figuring out as ethnically Russian “who live on those lands, whose ancestors lived there for centuries and centuries.”

However, most of the worldwide neighborhood has rejected the concept of Ukraine repressing the Russian language and tradition, saying that Russia invaded under false pretenses.

Since Trump took workplace for his second time period in January, Russia‘s assaults on Ukraine have only doubled, main some lawmakers to surprise if Putin is stringing the U.S. President along.

On Friday, Putin praised Trump, saying that it could be doable for the U.S. and Russia to totally restore relations, which he said have been at “an extremely low point.”

“With President Trump, I believe that a light at the end of the tunnel has nonetheless appeared,” said Putin, calling their summit in Alaska earlier this month, “very good.”