‘Obviously unlikely’: Russia shoots down Ukraine’s proposal for Putin-Zelenskyy meet by Aug-end

Days after negotiators of the two countries held talks in Turkey, the Kremlin has dismissed the possibility of talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin anytime soon.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Friday said that a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin was “obviously unlikely” before the end of August.

For weeks, Zelenskyy has pushed for a leader-level meeting between the two countries in order to reach a ceasefire as a first step towards ending the war.

“A high-level meeting can and must put a definitive end to the settlement … Is it possible to go through such a complex process in 30 days? Well, that is obviously unlikely,” Peskov told the media, as per AFP.

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With the rejection of Zelenskyy’s call for a leader-level meeting, the Kremlin made it clear again how far the two sides stood in their positions on the war. Instead of seeking a middle ground to end the war, the Kremlin has doubled down on its maximalise demands.

Russia rejects Ukraine’s main demand

After talks on Wednesday, Rustem Umerov, who led the Ukrainian delegation, said that the direct meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin was the “priority number one”. He said that Ukraine sought such a meeting by the end of August with Presidents Donald Trump of the United States and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Even before the Kremlin’s dismissal earlier in the day, Vladimir Medinsky, who lead the Russian delegation in talks in Turkey, said on Wednesday that “the positions [of the two sides] are quite distant”.

Medinsky said that both the countries on Wednesday agreed to exchange 1,200 prisoners each and that Russia offered to hand Ukraine the bodies of 3,000 of its soldiers.

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“We once again proposed to the Ukrainian side… to establish short 24- to 48-hour ceasefires on the line of contact, so that medical teams are able to collect the wounded and so that commanders can come take the bodies of their soldiers,” said Medinsky.

In previous rounds of talks, Ukraine and Russia had exchanged terms for the end of the war. While Ukraine offered concessions in a bid to end the war, Russia made no such attempt. Russia not just doubled down on its maximalist demands but expanded them such that any acceptance would lead to Ukraine’s cessation as a sovereign nation.