Russia Dampens Hopes for Progress on Putin-Zelensky Talks Ahead of Trump’s Latest Deadline

Russia’s foreign minister says conditions are far from satisfactory for an early meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, dimming the prospects for progress toward talks to end the war in Ukraine ahead of the latest deadline set on Friday by President Trump.“There is no meeting planned” with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, Sergei Lavrov says in an interview taped for broadcast Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker,” according to the Associated Press.President Vladimir Putin of Russia “is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all,” Mr. Lavrov says.The remarks are likely to feed growing frustration for Mr. Trump, who told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday that he will either impose tough new sanctions on Russia or walk away from the effort completely if nothing has happened by early next month.“We’re going to see whether or not they have a meeting,” Mr. Trump said. “It’ll be interesting to see. If they don’t, why didn’t they have a meeting, because I told them to have a meeting. But I’ll know what I am going to do in two weeks.”Mr. Trump added: “Then I’m going to make a decision as to what we do and it’s going to be a very important decision. Whether it’s massive sanctions, massive tariffs, or both. Or I’ll do nothing and say, ‘This is your war.'”Mr. Trump had previously threatened to impose crushing sanctions on Russian and on countries that buy its oil if there was no progress toward a ceasefire by early August. But that deadline was allowed to pass without action amid the planning for last week’s Alaska summit with Mr. Putin.The American president sounded optimistic about the chances for a meeting between the European adversaries immediately after that summit.“I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” Trump posted on his social media account earlier this week.“After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years.”However Russia has since poured cold water on hopes for an early meeting, reiterating several long-standing conditions that it says must be met before Mr. Putin will be willing to meet Mr. Zelensky.These include recognition by Kyiv of Russia’s claim to broad swaths of eastern Ukraine, including some areas still controlled by Ukrainian forces, and a commitment that Kyiv will give up its aspiration to ever join NATO.

Russia Dampens Hopes for Progress on Putin-Zelensky Talks Ahead of Trump’s Latest Deadline

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