Agreement at the White House Monday on the next step – a bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – was unanimous. Then came the briefing from Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov on President Donald Trump’s call with Putin.
“The idea was discussed that it would be appropriate to study the opportunity of raising the level of representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian sides,” he said. In Kremlin-speak, that means they are nowhere near ready, and maybe never will be.
And that should come as no surprise.
This is a war that started with Putin unilaterally recognizing a chunk of Ukrainian land (the self-styled Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics) as independent, while labeling it “our historical lands.”
He has argued Ukraine is “an inalienable part of [Russia’s] own history, culture and spiritual space,” its separation from Russia a historical mistake.
The Kremlin makes no effort to hide its disdain for Zelensky. It not only routinely questions the legitimacy of the Ukrainian leader, fixating on the postponement of elections in Ukraine because of martial law, but in its latest “peace” memorandum requires Ukraine to hold elections before any final peace treaty is signed.
Putin and other Russian officials rarely refer to Zelensky by name, instead preferring the scathing moniker of “the Kyiv regime.” And don’t forget it was Zelensky who traveled to Turkey for the first direct talks between the two sides in mid-May, only for Putin to send a delegation headed by a writer of historical textbooks.
Putin has already got what he wanted – a bilateral meeting with Trump, a leader he views as his equal. To meet with Zelensky would, in his eyes, be incompatible with his world-view, and his war aims.