Moscow Says No Putin-Zelensky-Trump Meeting During Monday’s Planned Ceasefire Talks

Istanbul is set to host the second round of Russia-Ukraine in-person talks on Monday, June 2nd, with Russia, the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany confirmed as attending. A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said their delegation would feature the same negotiators as the last talks in mid-May, confirming they aren’t planning for mooted high-level talks between the Presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and the United States.

President Donald Trump has previously said such a leaders’ meeting will be essential to getting a peace agrees.

Meanwhile, whether Ukraine will attend the talks at all appears to be an open question. As framed by Reuters, ‘Kyiv is keeping Russia guessing’.

As things stand, the latest disagreement between Kyiv and Moscow is the Ukrainians want negotiating points out in the open and exchanged ahead of talks. The Russians, on the other hand, say they won’t hand over their memoranda to Ukraine except in person, Putin’s spokesman having said this week: “talks should always be held behind closed doors rather than in public”.

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