Putin, Trump, Zelensky trilateral meeting 'unlikely' to happen soon, Kremlin says
A trilateral meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to be organized in the near future, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on June 3, Russian-state media outlet TASS reported.
The Kremlin’s statement comes a day after the White House said that Trump would not rule out participating in this format of talks.
“Frankly speaking, it is unlikely that (it will happen) soon,” Peskov said in response to a question about whether the three leaders would meet in the near future.
Peskov added that Putin had already expressed his readiness for a high-level meeting, but that it must result from agreements reached at “the technical and expert stages."
Putin had previously said he was ready to meet with Zelensky. However, when the Ukrainian leader invited him to hold the highest-level talks in Turkey on May 16, Putin did not attend.
Consequently, Ukraine and Russia held their first direct talks since 2022, but at a lower level than planned, without the participation of the countries' leaders.
The Russian and Ukrainian delegations held the second round of talks in Istanbul on June 2, failing to reach a ceasefire. But the parties agreed to a new prisoner exchange, as well as the repatriation of 6,000 bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers.
Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Serhii Kyslytsia, a member of the Ukrainian delegation to Istanbul, said that during the talks, Russia did not agree to a ceasefire and refused to hold a meeting between Putin and Zelensky.
The Kyiv IndependentKollen Post