Kremlin: Putin-Trump-Zelensky Meeting Possible Only to 'Seal' Agreements
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a trilateral meeting of Putin, Trump and Zelensky could only take place to formally confirm agreements already reached, not to negotiate them. No such meeting has occurred despite Trump beginning preparations for one last August.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said a three-way meeting of the US, Russian and Ukrainian presidents could only happen to formally confirm agreements that have already been reached.
Peskov was commenting on a report by Axios, republished by Meduza citing Interfax, that CIA Director John Ratcliffe proposed during a visit to Moscow that a meeting be held involving Putin, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky.
A complex process
According to Peskov, the idea of a Putin-Trump-Zelensky summit has been floated for a long time, but Russia's president has a clear position: such a meeting is possible only to finalize agreements. He described the underlying settlement process as highly complex, involving a huge number of details, rather than a simple deal.
Peskov argued that a meeting of presidents purely to discuss all these issues from scratch would be pointless — they could only meet to finalize agreements already worked out. He added that the Kyiv side, in his view, is not interested in doing the real work of reaching a settlement.
Previous attempts
As early as August 2025, Trump said he had begun preparing a trilateral summit involving himself, Zelensky and Putin, and expected to hold it within two weeks. No such three-way meeting has taken place since.
On June 4 this year, Zelensky published an open letter to Putin proposing a personal meeting to agree on ending the war. The following day, speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin said he saw no point in meeting Zelensky at that time.
