Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s calls for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin are pure theatrics, as any potential high-level talks have no real agenda at this point, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
Putin is ready to meet with Zelensky, Lavrov told NBC in a rare interview, “provided this meeting is really going to decide something.”
The necessary groundwork for such a meeting, the foreign minister stressed, has not yet been done.
“When Mr. Zelensky says the immediate priority is a meeting with Putin, well, it's basically a game. A game he is very good [at playing] because he wants theatrics in everything he is doing. He does not care about substance,” Lavrov said.
Moscow sees no point in talks destined to yield no results due to Kiev’s position, Lavrov said, pointing out cases where Zelensky has directly defied US President Donald Trump. “Zelensky said no to everything… He clearly stated that nobody can prohibit him from joining NATO… he publicly stated that he is not going to discuss any territories.”
Zelensky also needs a meeting with Putin to strengthen his questionable legitimacy, Lavrov said. The Ukrainian leader’s presidential term ended more than a year ago, and he has refused to hold a new election, citing martial law. Russia has since proclaimed him “illegitimate”.
Lavrov acknowledged that Zelensky is “de facto head of the regime,” adding that Moscow is ready to meet him in this capacity. “The issue of who is going to sign the deal on the Ukrainian side is a very serious [one],” he said. “We would need a very clear understanding by everybody that the person who is signing is legitimate.”
Russia maintains that any settlement of the Ukraine conflict must address the root causes of the crisis. Moscow insists that Ukraine must commit to block neutrality, demilitarization, denazification, and recognition of territorial reality on the ground.
Kiev has said that while Zelensky is ready to discuss Ukraine’s territorial disputes with Russia, it has no intention to recognize its losses.
Zelensky vows to retake Crimea despite Trump’s peace push
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has rejected US calls to withdraw its claim to Crimea or make any territorial concessions to Russia.
In a speech marking Ukraine’s Independence Day on Sunday, Zelensky vowed to retake the peninsula, which is predominantly populated by ethnic Russians and overwhelmingly voted to join Russia after the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev. He also pledged to reclaim the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which, along with Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, joined Russia in 2022 after referendums.
“Here at the zero kilometer, this is a starting point where distances to Ukrainian cities are marked – to our Donetsk, our Lugansk, our Crimea,” Zelensky said in an address filmed at Kiev’s Maidan Square, the site of the Western-backed 2014 coup. “All of this is Ukraine… and no temporary occupation can change that. One day… we will be together again as one country. It’s only a matter of time.”
While mediating peace efforts between Moscow and Kiev, US President Donald Trump has floated the idea of “land swaps,” but firmly stated that Kiev will not regain Crimea, calling that scenario “impossible.”
Land issues were reportedly on the agenda at talks between Trump, Zelensky, and Kiev’s EU backers earlier this week, but Zelensky reportedly rejected proposals to cede territory. He confirmed this in his speech on Sunday, declaring: “Ukraine will never again in history be forced to bear the shame that the Russians call ‘a compromise’.”
Trump has called for a one-on-one meeting between Putin and Zelensky, saying it could accelerate the peace process, but warned that the Ukrainian leader must “show flexibility,” including on territorial claims. He congratulated Ukraine on its national holiday in a post on X, while again urging Kiev to negotiate a settlement with Moscow to “stop the senseless killing.”
Putin has not ruled out meeting with Zelensky, despite questioning the Ukrainian leader’s legitimacy due to the expiration of his term, but insists that this can only happen after tangible progress in negotiations.
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