Will Putin and Zelensky Meet? What Trump and Moscow Said

Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday 28 October that a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky would be arranged soon. A day earlier, Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov had said where the Kremlin expects Zelensky to come: Moscow. Zelensky’s own line, given the same week, is a trilateral round in November with Ukrainian, American and Russian representatives, and Europe at the table.

Neither government has confirmed that the two presidents agreed to meet, according to the Kyiv Post. Trump gave no date and no venue.

Trump announced a Putin and Zelensky meeting without a date or a place. The Kremlin’s invitation, relayed by Ushakov on Tuesday, is to Moscow, with safety assurances. Zelensky wants territory settled at leadership level and Europe present throughout. Moscow has said talks can restart after 10 November.

Trump spoke on Wednesday in remarks to reporters, AFP reported. “There’ll be a meeting set up very soon, and I think a lot of progress could be made,” he said. The Kyiv Post adds a second line from the same remarks: “We’re making a lot of progress with Russia-Ukraine.” AFP placed them six days before the 3 November US midterm elections, and noted that Trump has lately turned back to Putin with a deal for Russia to sell diesel to the American market.

A US official told Axios on 10 October that Trump went ahead after Zelensky ignored about half a dozen American requests to stop attacking Russian refineries.

Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide, said on Tuesday 27 October, after a call between Putin, Finland’s Alexander Stubb and Norway’s Jonas Gahr Støre that the two had told Putin Zelensky wanted direct talks. Putin’s answer, in the English rendering of TASS that Brit Brief carried, was that “if Zelensky truly wishes to hold direct negotiations, he should come to Moscow”, with the necessary conditions, including safety, provided. We covered that call in an earlier article.

In a Ukrainian television interview on Sunday 25 October, reported by Euronews from AFP, he said: “We are ready to talk. If it’s a territorial issue, it must be addressed at a leadership level.” He added: “Other issues fall within the remit of the technical groups.” In his evening address on Tuesday, after the Nordic call, he said, in the Kyiv Post’s account: “We expect a trilateral format in November, with Ukrainian, American, and Russian representatives.” He went on: “It is important that Europe also take part in all diplomatic moves,” and “No one should be left out of the process.”

After Putin received the US envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on 21 October, Ushakov told reporters that Putin agreed “in principle” to restart talks after 10 November, Euronews reported, on what Ushakov called “building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends.” On Tuesday, Brit Brief quotes him as saying: “We are not looking at who might represent Europe at all, as that will be decided at a much later stage.”

Three dates sit side by side. Trump says “very soon”. Ushakov dates the next round to after 10 November. Zelensky says November, with Americans and Europeans present. The US midterms on 3 November fall between the first two.

The venue is where the texts part. Putin’s formula, as Ushakov relayed it, is “he should come to Moscow”. Zelensky wants a table where, in his words, “everyone in Europe” is included, and Ushakov’s line on who might represent Europe is that it “will be decided at a much later stage”.

The agenda differs as well. Zelensky says “territorial issue” is for leaders and “other issues” for technical groups. Ushakov described the November round as being about “building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends.”

Matthew Blackburn of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs wrote in a Responsible Statecraft piece on 27 October that “Europe, it seems, is not united on a negotiated end to the conflict,” and that “Russia has responded positively to the proposals sent from Oslo.” Responsible Statecraft is published by the Quincy Institute, which argues for restraint in US foreign policy. Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen, quoted in the earlier article, said she was “very skeptical” of the Nordic initiative.

No Kremlin comment on Trump’s remarks had appeared by the time of writing. AFP’s earlier reporting is that the Kremlin had said the three-way meeting was planned for the UAE in November.

The first marker is the Kremlin’s reply to Trump. A repeat of the Moscow invitation from Dmitry Peskov would settle the venue; a reply naming Abu Dhabi would move it.

The second is the date of the Abu Dhabi round after 10 November, which has not been announced. The third is Zelensky’s answer on Moscow, not yet given in public since Ushakov spoke.

Until then, “very soon” is Trump’s phrase alone, and every date anyone has published falls in November.