The Kremlin said today that a trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine meeting could only take place after “concrete agreements” between Moscow and Kiev.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a trilateral meeting today with the presidents of the United States and Russia, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
“Such a meeting must be the result of concrete agreements between the two delegations” of Russia and Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Zelensky also called on Washington to impose new sanctions on Moscow.
Three Russian sources said Putin wants a written promise from major Western powers that the US-led NATO alliance will not expand eastward, which would mean excluding Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and other former Soviet republics from membership.
Russia wants Ukraine to be neutral, some Western sanctions lifted, a resolution to the issue of frozen Russian assets in the West and protection for Russian speakers in Ukraine, the three sources said.
A written promise that NATO will not expand eastward: Ukraine as a neutral state, Lifting some Western sanctions, Resolving the issue of frozen Russian assets and Protection for “Russian speakers in Ukraine”
The former said that if Putin realizes that he cannot reach a peace agreement on his own terms, he will seek military victories to show Ukrainians and Europeans that “tomorrow’s peace will be even more painful.”
The Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment.
