Volodimir Zelenski and Vladimir Putin. Collage: Ion Mateș / Hotnews. Photo: Profimedia, Shutterstock
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that “it is obvious” that there will be no meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodimir Zelenski, according to AFP and Reuters.
“It is obvious that there will be no meeting between President Zelenski and President Putin, contrary to what President Trump and President Putin agreed,” said Friedrich Merz, at the beginning of a meeting of the Franco-German ministers, quoted by News.ro.
Macron welcomed Merz for a working dinner at Bregancon Fort, in the south of France, where the two leaders also made press statements.
The German Chancellor said that the discussion with the French president will focus on several topics, including the economic cooperation between the two countries, on the war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as on the debirocratization of Europe.
Trump had announced a meeting between Presidents of Ukraine and Russia
On August 18, in the context of discussions organized at the White House with the President of Ukraine and a series of European leaders, Donald Trump announced that he and his Russian counterpart “started the arrangements” for a Putin-Zenski summit, followed by a trilateral to take part in the US president.
The meeting of presidents in Ukraine and Russia has not materialized, and the parties have accused each other for this situation.
In contrast, a new meeting will be held on Friday between representatives of Ukraine and the United States in New York, according to the announcement made by President Zelenski.
Before the conclusion of a possible peace agreement, Ukraine wants security guarantees from the West to discourage any future Russian attacks, according to AFP.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin spokesman said Russia has a negative opinion on European proposals on security guarantees for Ukraine and will not accept a presence of NATO troops on the territory of the neighboring country.
Dmitri Peskov said that a European troop in Ukraine would mean a NATO presence there, which Russia, he claims, has sought to prevent from the beginning.
“The advancement of the NATO military infrastructure and the infiltration of this military infrastructure in Ukraine could probably be among the basic causes of this conflict situation,” said the Kremlin representative, quoted by Reuters.
