‘No Meeting Planned’ Between Russian & Ukrainian Presidents, Says Top Russian Diplomat

Russian Foreign Ministry

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Russia ruled out an imminent meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, 22 August 2025, as diplomatic tensions with the Ukrainian president escalated and U.S. mediation efforts appeared to falter.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that "no meeting" between Vladimir Putin and Zelensky was planned, as NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte visited Kyiv, mainly to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump had raised expectations for a swift summit between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders earlier in the week, claiming they had agreed to meet, but on Friday he compared the two men to "oil and vinegar".

"They don't get along too well, for obvious reasons," he told reporters in Washington.

Lavrov further dampened hopes for direct talks between the Russian and Ukrainian Presidents to end the conflict, now in its fourth year, by questioning the Ukrainian President's legitimacy and repeating the Kremlin’s demands.

"There is no meeting planned," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press with Kristen Welker.

He added that President Putin was ready to meet President Zelensky once a clear agenda had been prepared, stressing that the agenda was "not ready at all".

Speaking in Kyiv, President Zelensky insisted Ukraine had "no agreements with the Russians", saying that discussions were only with President Trump on how diplomacy might proceed.

On Thursday, President Zelensky had accused Russia of "trying to wriggle out of holding a meeting", claiming Moscow sought to prolong its offensive.

President Trump previously said Russia had agreed to certain Western security guarantees for Kyiv.

However, Moscow later cast doubt on such arrangements, with Lavrov declaring on Wednesday that discussing them without Russia was "a utopia, a road to nowhere".

"When Russia raises the issue of security guarantees, I honestly do not yet know who is threatening them," said President Zelensky, who has called for the presence of foreign troops in Ukraine to deter future Russian attacks.

The Kremlin has repeatedly stated it would never accept that, citing Ukraine’s NATO ambitions as one of the pretexts for its invasion.

"There are several principles which Washington believes must be accepted, including no NATO membership, including the discussion of territorial issues, and Zelensky said no to everything," Lavrov told NBC.



PUKMEDIA