Russian President Vladimir Putin remains open to an eventual meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, his spokesman said, but the high-level expert work required to prepare for one is not taking place.
Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian presidential office for comment.
U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for the two men to meet, seeing it as essential for breaking the deadlock on a peace settlement to end the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.
After Trump met with Putin in Alaska and Zelensky in Washington, D.C., earlier in August, he said a meeting between the leaders was possible within a couple of weeks, according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and began making arrangements. But no such meeting is imminent.
Newsweek has also contacted the White House for comment.
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (C) attends a meeting with government members in Moscow on August 27.
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (C) attends a meeting with government members in Moscow on August 27.
VYACHESLAV PROKOFYEV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Russia Sent Draft of Position to Ukraine
“I will remind you of President Putin’s position,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, originally in Russian, on Friday morning, according to a clip shared by state news agency RIA.
“He does not rule out the possibility of holding such a meeting, but he believes that any meeting, any high-level meeting, must be well prepared so that it can be used to analyze the groundwork that should first be carried out at the expert level,” Peskov said.
He continued: “At the moment, it cannot be said that the expert work is, so to speak, in full swing. No, unfortunately, it is not. We maintain our interest and our readiness for such negotiations. All our positions have been conveyed. A corresponding draft—let’s say, the main provisions in written form—was handed over to the Ukrainian side. These are the requested positions. Further discussion is necessary.”
Zelensky has said he is willing to meet with Putin but has demanded a ceasefire for negotiations to take place, which Russia ruled out, saying it favored going straight to a peace settlement instead.
The Ukrainian leader says Russia’s rejection of a ceasefire and hesitation over a Putin meeting is evidence that it does not seek peace and instead wants to continue with the war to seize more land from Kyiv.
Russia, Ukraine Strikes Continue
This week, Russia launched a massive strike on Kyiv, which it said targeted military infrastructure. Among the structures hit was a residential building and two owned by the European Union (EU) and the British Council.
Zelensky said 23 civilians had died in the strikes, including four children. Eight more were unaccounted for. He called for tougher international action against Russia, including more sanctions, to force it to make peace.
But Russia accused Ukraine and the West of hypocrisy for their anger over the Kyiv strike, listing recent Ukrainian drone attacks it said had killed and injured Russian civilians.
Updated, 8/29/25, 7:21 a.m. ET: This article was updated with more information.