KYIV: The Kremlin on Wednesday (May 28) rebuffed a call by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a three-way summit with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as Kyiv seeks to force Moscow to halt its three-year-long invasion.
Moscow said any meeting involving Russian President Putin and Zelenskyy would only happen after “concrete agreements” had been struck between negotiators from each side.
Putin rejected calls to meet Zelenskyy in Turkey earlier this month.
The Kremlin leader has repeatedly said he does not see Zelenskyy as a legitimate leader and called for him to be toppled.
US President 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 in recent weeks, with Ukraine firing almost 300 drones at Russia overnight, the defence ministry in Moscow said.
“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,” Zelenskyy said in comments to journalists on Tuesday (May 27) that were published on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian leader said he was “ready” for a “Trump-Putin-me” meeting.
Asked about Zelenskyy’s comments on Wednesday, 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 the sides in Istanbul earlier this month failed to yield a breakthrough.
Moscow has rejected coordinated Western calls for an immediate ceasefire.
“WAITING FOR SANCTIONS”
The Ukrainian president 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.”
Trump over the weekend called Putin “crazy” after a massive Russian barrage killed at least 13 people across Ukraine.
And on Tuesday, he went on blasting at the Russian leader.
“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize 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!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
He has repeatedly threatened to impose fresh sanctions on Russia but has yet to do so.
