On September 12 (local time), according to AFP, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Miami in December to discuss ending the war. However, the Kremlin immediately rejected this possibility and affirmed that Moscow would only accept a meeting in the Russian capital.
“That is impossible,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP in New Delhi on September 12, reiterating Russia's position on the venue for the meeting.
The G20 summit is scheduled to take place on December 14-15 in Miami (USA), but there has been no confirmation whether Mr. Putin will attend. Mr. Zelensky's proposal was made while the US is seeking to restart the negotiation process between Russia and Ukraine after a period of stagnation.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle radio in Canada on September 11, Mr. Zelensky said that if both he and Mr. Putin are invited to the G20, he is ready to meet the Russian leader. According to him, it is important that the two sides meet directly, dialogue and make decisions to create results.
This is not the first time Mr. Zelensky has proposed a direct meeting with Mr. Putin. In June, he said he had mentioned the possibility of meeting the Russian leader in the US in a phone call with US President Donald Trump. Previously, he also said that Mr. Putin had ignored the proposal to meet on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France.
Last weekend, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr. Jared Kushner visited Moscow and Kiev. Mr. Zelensky assessed the trip as a "good sign", while emphasizing that the visit of two US officials to both capitals is important for the negotiation process.
On September 11, Mr. Jared Kushner said he hoped to be able to announce "the next steps" in efforts to end the conflict in the next few weeks. Previously, US President Donald Trump and Mr. Putin also had a phone call on September 8.
Ukraine said the talks could resume in September. However, Russia on September 7 said it was "too early" to discuss the timing and venue of the next round of talks.
While the prospects for dialogue are still unclear, the war situation continues to be tense with increasing long-range raids. Mr. Zelensky said that Ukraine is currently "much stronger than last year on the battlefield", thereby having a good position to enter negotiations. He also called on allies to support more interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defense system, in the context of limited supply from Washington.
