Zelensky ready to meet Putin at Miami G20 but Kremlin refuses / Photo: Sergei SUPINSKY - AFP
Zelensky ready to meet Putin at Miami G20 but Kremlin refuses
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be willing to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Miami for talks on ending the war, in a media interview released Saturday, but the Kremlin immediately ruled it out.
"It is impossible," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP in New Delhi on Saturday, repeating Moscow's demand that a meeting can only take place in the Russian capital.
The gathering of world leaders takes place on December 14-15 and there has been no confirmation yet as to whether Putin would attend.
Asked if the Kremlin was considering an alternative location for a meeting with Zelensky, Peskov replied: "There is a readiness to meet him in Moscow."
Putin has repeatedly rejected offers for a face-to-face meeting with Zelensky aimed at brokering an end to more than four years of war, which have killed thousands of people and crippled both countries' economies.
On Saturday, officials in Kyiv said intensifying strikes on key sectors, including energy, could see Ukrainian GDP slump by 1.5 points this year, and that this coming winter would be "very difficult".
- 'Next steps' -
The latest offer comes as Washington seeks to kick-start long-stalled talks on Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, with US negotiators visiting Kyiv and Moscow and President Donald Trump and Putin this week holding talks over the phone.
On Friday, Trump's special envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner told a security forum in Kyiv via videolink that he hoped to announce the "next steps" of talks to end the war within "a couple of weeks".
The United States holds this year's presidency of the Group of 20 major economies, which comprises 19 countries plus the European Union and the African Union.
Russia's finance minister has already attended one G20 meeting.
Asked whether he would be willing to meet Putin at the December summit if both leaders were invited, Zelensky told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle: "Yes, of course.
"We have to come. We have to meet, to speak, and make decisions. It's not about words. What I will tell him or what he wants to tell me, it doesn't matter."
All that mattered were "results", he added.
In June Zelensky said he had proposed meeting Putin in the United States during a call with Trump, and was waiting to see what came of it.
The Ukrainian leader previously said that Putin ignored an invitation to meet him at a G7 summit in France the same month.
Last weekend, US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited Moscow and Kyiv.
In the DW interview, which took place Friday in Canada, Zelensky said that Witkoff and Kushner's visit was a "good signal", and it was important the pair had made a trip to Kyiv as well as Moscow.
Zelensky has also announced he plans to meet Trump in late September, as Washington pushes for fresh face-to-face talks between Moscow and Kyiv.
- 'Good position for talks' -
Asked about Ukraine's position ahead of possible negotiations, Zelensky responded: "Ukraine now is much more stronger than last year on the battlefield.
"That's why we think that we have now (a) good position for negotiations."
Kyiv has said the talks could happen as early as this month, but the Kremlin on Monday said it was "too early" to discuss a venue or dates.
Several previous rounds of negotiations have failed. Trust between the sides is low, and there is no sign that Moscow or Kyiv have shifted their positions.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have escalated long-range strikes on each other in recent months, leading to the highest civilian death toll since the early days of the war.
Overnight Russian strikes killed four people in Ukraine, including two in Zaporizhzhia in the south and two at an ArcelorMittal plant in central Kryvyi Rih, local authorities and the steelmaker said Saturday.
In the interview, Zelensky also repeated his call for Ukraine's allies to provide more missiles to fend off Russian air attacks.
Ukraine urgently needs more interceptor missiles for US-made Patriot air defence systems, but US supplies have been reduced after Washington used large numbers during its war with Iran.
It was not clear whether Washington would provide enough missiles, said Zelensky, adding that they have "political will to sell and to help, but the production is not too big".
He also urged greater help from European allies: "All the Europeans who really support us have what we need."
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S.Lambert--JdB
