Doing so would require the Russian leader to “accept the failure of sitting down with a president he considers a joke from a country that doesn’t exist”

A summit in Paris six years ago was the first and only time the two presidents ever met, flanked by French president Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s then-chancellor Angela Merkel. At the time, Putin and Zelensky were looking to hash out a ceasefire deal for war in Donbas in Ukraine’s east, where Russia-backed forces were fighting Ukrainian troops.

Zelensky talks puts Kremlin in a bind: accept and legitimise Kyiv’s leader or refuse and face fresh US sanctions. Read here

The Kremlin is keeping its options open, but analysts said the Russian leader would probably only meet with his Ukrainian counterpart to accept a capitulation.

European leaders are to join the Ukrainian president during a visit that seeks a path to ending the war between Ukraine and Russia.

President Donald Trump is pushing for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet before a possible trilateral meeting involving the U.S.The president also ruled out sending U.

Ukrainian analysts watching their president’s return to the White House were braced for a “nightmare.” They took cautious encouragement from what they saw instead.

Trump urged Putin to arrange meeting with Zelenskyy. President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to urge him to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymy