Russia says "no meeting planned" with Ukraine's Zelensky despite Trump claims

Moscow, Russia - Russia Friday ruled out an immediate meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, as diplomatic tension escalated with the Ukrainian president and US mediation efforts appeared to stumble.

US President Donald Trump (c.) on Friday said setting up a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (l.) and Russian leader Vladimir Putin (r.) is as hard as mixing "oil and vinegar."
US President Donald Trump (c.) on Friday said setting up a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (l.) and Russian leader Vladimir Putin (r.) is as hard as mixing "oil and vinegar."  © Mandel NGAN and ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said "no meeting" between Vladimir Putin and Zelensky was planned, as NATO chief Mark Rutte visited Kyiv, largely to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump previously raised expectations for a swift summit between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents by saying they had both agreed to meet after Zelensky, Rutte, and Kyiv's European allies visited the White House on Monday.

On Friday, Lavrov dashed hopes for direct Putin-Zelensky talks to resolve the conflict, now in its fourth year, by questioning the Ukrainian president's legitimacy and repeating the Kremlin's maximalist claims.

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"There is no meeting planned," Lavrov said in a Friday interview with NBC's Meet the Press with Kristen Welker.

Lavrov told the broadcaster that Putin was "ready to meet Zelensky" as soon as an agenda was prepared, adding that the agenda was "not ready at all."

Speaking alongside Rutte in Kyiv, Zelensky said Ukraine had "no agreements with the Russians," saying Ukraine had only agreed with Trump on how the diplomatic direction could proceed.

On Thursday, he had accused Russia of "trying to wriggle out of holding a meeting," adding that Moscow wanted to continue the offensive.

Trump on Friday compared the two men to "oil and vinegar."

"They don't get along too well, for obvious reasons," he told reporters in Washington.

Russia and Ukraine speak out about security guarantees

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (r.) and Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte (l.) give a press conference following their talks in Kyiv on Friday, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (r.) and Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte (l.) give a press conference following their talks in Kyiv on Friday, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  © Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP

The question of eventual security guarantees for Ukraine has been front and center during the latest US-led diplomatic push to broker a peace deal to end the conflict.

Trump earlier said Russia had agreed to some Western security guarantees for Kyiv.

But Moscow later cast doubt on any such arrangement by saying discussing them without Russia was "a utopia, a road to nowhere."

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"When Russia raises the issue of security guarantees, I honestly do not yet know who is threatening them," said Zelensky, who wants foreign troops in Ukraine to deter Russian attacks in the future.

The Kremlin has long said it would never accept that, citing Ukraine's NATO ambition as one of the pretexts for its assault.

"There are several principles which Washington believes must be accepted, including no NATO membership, including the discussion of territorial issues, and Zelensky said no to everything," Lavrov told NBC.

On a visit to Kyiv, during which an air raid alert sounded across the city, Rutte said security guarantees were needed to ensure "Russia will uphold any deal and will never ever again attempt to take one square kilometer of Ukraine."

Moscow signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994, which was aimed at ensuring security for Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan in exchange for them giving up numerous nuclear weapons left from the Soviet era.

Russia violated that first by taking Crimea in 2014, and then by starting a full-scale offensive in 2022, which has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.

Cover photo: Mandel NGAN and ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP

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