Zelenskyy calls for a strong reaction from US if Putin refuses bilateral meeting

“If the Russians are not ready, we would like to see a strong reaction from the United States,” the Ukrainian leader said in comments released on Thursday from a briefing with reporters in Kyiv a day earlier.

‘Possible that Putin doesn’t want to make a deal,’ says Trump

Zelenskyy’s remarks came after US President Donald Trump, who is seeking to broker a peace deal between his Ukrainian and Russian counterparts, conceded that it was possible that Putin might not want to make a deal.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem, to be honest with you. I think Putin is tired of it. I think they’re all tired of it, but you never know,” Trump said in an interview with the Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” programme a day after hosting Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House for discussions on peace efforts.

“We’re going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks … It’s possible that he doesn’t want to make a deal,” Trump said, adding that Putin faced a “rough situation” if that were not the case.

The Russian president, over a phone call which was dialled by Trump, reportedly said he was “open” to the idea of a bilateral meeting with Ukraine’s president; however, on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov played down the vague commitment offered by the Kremlin chief.

“Any meeting would have to be prepared gradually…starting with the expert level and thereafter going through all the required steps,” Lavrov said on Tuesday.

However, Dmitry Polyanskiy, a Russian deputy representative to the UN, in a different tone told BBC that “nobody [had] rejected” the opportunity for direct talks, “but it shouldn’t be a meeting for the sake of a meeting”.