But Peskov poured cold water on the idea, saying it was “premature” for the two presidents to meet.
“They [Ukraine] are trying to put the cart slightly ahead of the horse,” he said, adding much more work had to be done before any such meeting could take place.
Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Hocharenko said on Facebook that a separate meeting between Umerov and Medinsky had taken place behind closed doors on the sidelines of the main talks.
Hocharenko said Umerov and Medinsky have a “good relationship”.
The first two rounds of ceasefire talks were held in May and June at the request of US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly said he wants to see the end of the “horrible, bloody war” that was sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Earlier this month Trump set a deadline of 50 days for Russia and Ukraine to end the war, threatening “severe tariffs” on Moscow if a deal is not reached.
Russia has long refused to budge on its preconditions for peace – namely the removal of the “root causes” of the war, which include Ukraine becoming a neutral state, dramatically reducing its military and abandoning its Nato aspirations.
None of these are acceptable to Kyiv, or to its Western allies.
“We will do everything to make diplomacy work,” Zelensky said on social media on Thursday after the talks. “But it is Russia that must end this war that it started itself.”