German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said direct talks between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy wouldn’t happen, even as the Trump administration continues to push for a peace deal.
“Unlike what had been agreed between President Trump and President Putin last week, when we were together in Washington, it is obviously not going to come to a meeting between President Zelenskyy and President Putin,” Merz told reporters before a dinner with France’s Emmanuel Macron at Fort de Brégançon, the leader’s summer residence.
Trump earlier this month, following a meeting of European leaders at the White House, said he had arranged a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, though Moscow later moved to cool expectations that such a summit would take place imminently.