27 September 2026 | 00:16

READING TIME: 3 minutes

Donald Trump is pressing for a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. Russia continues to accuse Europe, which Moscow says is responsible for a potential escalation. A negotiated breakthrough to end the war in Ukraine does not appear imminent, although Trump has suggested there could be developments by the end of the year. According to the US president, Putin and Zelensky “could reach an agreement in the near future, perhaps even before the harsh winter.”

Trump: “Moscow–Kyiv agreement possible before winter”

The White House leader recently spoke at length with the Ukrainian president in New York. “I talked with Zelensky for a long time and on many issues I agree with him. But do you know what I want them to do? Make a deal. I want him to reach an agreement with Putin and for Putin to agree with him,” Trump said, noting that last month some 25,000 people died in the war on both sides combined. The White House’s push for Zelensky to travel to Moscow to meet Putin, however, has not been accepted: the Ukrainian president’s office denied that such a request from the White House was made.

Zelensky: “Putin does not want to stop the war”

Kyiv does not share Trump’s optimism. “It is obvious that the Russians are not preparing to stop the war. At least not now. Putin constantly finds excuses not to hold meetings, not to take part in a trilateral meeting” with Ukraine and the US, “not to talk and not to stop the killings,” Zelensky said in a message posted on social media. “Russia must come to want to spend money not on death but on something else: it must come to want the end of this war. In the coming days and in October there will be much diplomatic activity aimed at changing the situation,” he added, calling for increased international pressure on the Kremlin.

Lavrov: “Europe is preparing for war”

Moscow’s line remains unchanged rhetorically. “Europeans are preparing for war with Russia,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in response to a question from TASS after a meeting in New York with German minister Johann Wadephul. The last meeting between Lavrov and a German foreign minister occurred before the war in Ukraine, on 18 January 2022, when Lavrov met Annalena Baerbock. The New York meeting does not appear to have produced significant results. “The German minister requested the meeting at the last minute. They had nothing new to say: they simply reiterated Berlin’s official position, already publicly known. They expected concessions from us on Ukraine. They could have just given me a phone call, that would have been sufficient,” Lavrov said, repeating familiar talking points.

“The West dreams of delivering a strategic defeat to Russia. But as has happened many times in the past, that dream will lead to a strategic dead end,” the Russian foreign minister said. “Europe is doing everything to obstruct the prospect of peace talks on Ukraine—talks that others, including some in the United States, are also interested in,” he added in remarks to the UN General Assembly. “Europe realizes the futility of its efforts, so it is doing everything possible to hinder a peaceful solution and undermine the prospects for negotiations, in which many are interested, including the Trump administration. The West is supplying arms to the Ukrainian regime and helping Kyiv strike civilians and infrastructure with drones and missiles,” he said, using the term “the West”—as noted by TASS—chiefly in reference to Europe and without criticizing the US.

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