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Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov plays down the possibility of a meeting with Zelensky
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An agreement has been reached for Putin and Trump to meet ‘in the coming days’ to discuss a ceasefire, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed.
Despite Trump suggesting there was “a good chance” of a summit involving Zelensky, Ushakov said that a trilateral meeting “was for some reason mentioned by Washington” but had not been discussed with the Kremlin.
The venue for the meeting has been decided and is due to be announced later, he added
A face-to-face meeting would be the first between a sitting US and Russian president since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021, some eight months before Russia launched the biggest attack on a European nation since the Second World War.
Earlier, Trump said his envoy Steve Witkoff made “great progress” in a meeting with Putin in Moscow, adding: “Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come.”
Trump made a condition of a meeting with Putin that the Russian leader also meets Zelensky.
Asked about the possibility, Putin said: “I have already said many times that I have nothing against it in general, it is possible.”
“But certain conditions must be created for this. But unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions,” Putin added, distancing himself from a meeting.
Zelensky previously offered to meet in May to discuss ending the war. Putin did not accept the request.
Putin has said interest in a US-Russia meeting was “mutual” and that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a potential location for the summit.
The Russian leader’s travel options are restricted an international arrest warrant over the alleged removal of children from Ukraine to Russia during the war.
Editorial: Despite no immediate sign of a breakthrough with Moscow after special envoy Steve Witkoff’s crunch ceasefire talks, there is at least hope that the US president – increasingly resentful about the Kremlin rebuffing his overtures – could now come full circle and support Ukraine again
We reported earlier that the Kremlin confirmed Trump and Putin will meet ‘in the coming days’.
Now we have the full statement from Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, who appears to play down the possibility of a meeting with Zelensky.
The statement:
At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement in principle was made to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days, that is, a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
Now, together with our American colleagues, we are starting to work out the specific parameters of this meeting and the venue. By the way, I will note that the venue has also been agreed upon in principle and we will inform you about it a little later.
As for the option of a trilateral meeting, which for some reason was mentioned by Washington yesterday, this option was simply mentioned by the American representative during the meeting in the Kremlin. But this option was not specifically discussed.
The Russian side left this option completely, completely without comment. We propose, first of all, to focus on preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump and we believe that the main thing is for this meeting to be successful and productive.
Everyone also knows that yesterday, immediately after Witkoff’s report, Trump called a number of leading European partners and discussed this matter with them.
I will note that we, using the appropriate channels, have already begun informing our closest partners and friends about the issues that were discussed during this meeting with Witkoff.
Next week was considered as the targeted date [for the meeting], but the parties are starting to directly prepare for this important meeting, and it is difficult to say how many days the preparation will take. But the option of holding the meeting during the next week was considered, and we are quite positive about this option.
Earlier, we reported Russia claimed it had shot down eight British-made Storm Shadow missiles in service with the Ukrainian army over the past 24 hours.
– Storm Shadows are cruise missiles developed by France and the UK in the 90s. They are launched from aircraft.
– They have a range of more than 155 miles and exceed 600mph, according to manufacturer MBDA.
– The RAF and French air forced used them in the Gulf, Libya and Iraq.
– The UK announced it would provide Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles in May 2023 – the first country to do so.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Europe must participate in the peace process between his country and Russia after a call with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday.
“Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side,” he said.
Russian President Putin is set to visit India soon, NDTV reported, citing India’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval.
Mr Doval is in Moscow but did not specify dates.
We are very excited and delighted to learn about the visit of President Putin to India. I think the dates are almost finalised now.
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