Zelensky announced a meeting with Russia: what is known

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russia proposed to first hold a bilateral meeting with Kiev at the leaders' level and then expand the format to a trilateral one with the participation of the USA. He said this after talks with President Donald Trump at the White House.

According to Zelensky, it was the American leader who acted as an intermediary in contacts with Moscow.

The US President contacted the Russian side and discussed possible diplomatic steps. Russia proposed to start with the Ukraine-Russia format and then move to a trilateral format. We are ready for any negotiations at the level of leaders, because this is the only way to solve complex and painful issues," the Ukrainian president stressed.

Zelensky noted that Kiev does not know the details of the future meeting, but counts on Washington's support to pressure Russia. "If one of the parties does not demonstrate readiness for negotiations, we expect the US to act accordingly," he added.

At the same time, the Ukrainian leader emphasised that the meeting should not be accompanied by a lot of preconditions.

If we start setting conditions, Moscow will put forward dozens of counter demands. Therefore, we should first sit down at the negotiating table and discuss the way to end the war," Zelenskyy said.

The president also specified that after the bilateral conversation at the White House, Trump interrupted the talks to call Vladimir Putin. He then returned and said that the Kremlin proposes exactly this order - first the Ukraine-Russia meeting and then the trilateral meeting.

The exact terms of the talks have not been determined yet. Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine did not intend to abandon its course towards a peaceful settlement and was ready for any format of negotiations if they took place at the level of presidents.