Kremlin rebuffs Zelensky’s call for three-way meeting with Trump, Putin
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in Berlin on May 28.
PHOTO: AFP
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MOSCOW/KYIV - The Kremlin on May 28 rebuffed a call by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a three-way summit with US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin as Kyiv seeks to force Moscow to halt its three-year-long invasion.
Moscow said that any meeting involving Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky would happen only after “concrete agreements” had been struck between negotiators from each side.
The Russian President rejected calls to meet Mr Zelensky in Turkey earlier in May.
Mr Putin has repeatedly said he does not see Mr Zelensky as a legitimate leader and called for him to be toppled.
Mr Trump, meanwhile, has expressed frustration at both men for not yet striking a deal to end the war.
The two sides have traded waves of massive aerial attacks
“If Putin is not comfortable with a bilateral meeting, or if everyone wants it to be a trilateral meeting, I don’t mind. I am ready for any format,” Mr Zelensky said in comments to journalists on May 27 that were published on May 28.
The Ukrainian leader said he was “ready” for a “Trump-Putin-me” meeting.
Asked about Mr Zelensky’s comments on May 28, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Such a meeting should be the result of concrete agreements between the two (Ukrainian and Russian) delegations.”
The first direct peace talks in more than three years between both sides in Istanbul earlier in May failed to yield a breakthrough.
Moscow has rejected coordinated Western calls for an immediate ceasefire.
‘Waiting for sanctions’
Mr Zelensky also urged Washington to deliver a package of hard-hitting sanctions on Moscow’s banking and energy sectors.
“Trump confirmed that if Russia does not stop, sanctions will be imposed. We discussed two main aspects with him – energy and the banking system. Will the US be able to impose sanctions on these two sectors? I would very much like that,” he said.
Mr Trump at the weekend called Mr Putin “crazy” after a massive Russian barrage killed at least 13 people across Ukraine.
And on May 27, he continued to blast the Russian leader.
“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realise is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
Mr Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose fresh sanctions on Russia, but has yet to do so.
Despite months of US-led diplomacy, the two sides appear no closer to striking a deal to end the war, which was triggered by Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
Tens of thousands have been killed, much of east and southern Ukraine has been destroyed, and Moscow’s army now controls around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, including the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Hours after Mr Zelensky spoke, Ukraine unleashed one of its largest-ever drone barrages
Moscow’s three major international airports were forced to suspend flights for hours overnight amid the barrage, aviation authorities said.
‘Amassing’ troops
Ukraine has accused Russia of dragging out the peace process and of not wanting to halt its invasion.
Kyiv has yet to receive a promised “memorandum” from Russia on its demands for a peace deal that Mr Putin said he would send to Ukraine.
Work on the document was in its “final stages”, Mr Peskov said on May 28.
He also said there was no decision on where the next round of talks between the two sides would take place, after Moscow rejected calls to stage them in the Vatican.
Mr Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg told Fox News on May 27 that they would “probably” be in Geneva.
When asked about Mr Trump’s mounting frustration at the slow progress, Mr Peskov said: “There are a huge collection of nuances that need to be discussed.”
On the battlefield, Mr Zelensky said Russia was “amassing” more than 50,000 troops on the front line around the north-eastern Sumy border region, where Moscow’s army has captured a number of settlements as it seeks to establish what Mr Putin has called a “buffer zone” inside Ukrainian territory.
Russia’s army said on May 28 that it had captured another village in the Sumy region.
Mr Zelensky was in Germany that day for talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has pledged muscular backing for Kyiv in its fight against Russia. AFP
