Russia’s Lavrov says agenda ‘not ready at all’ for Putin-Zelenskyy summit

Russia’s apical diplomat Sergey Lavrov accuses Ukrainian President Zelenskyy of saying ‘no to everything’.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said determination is nary docket for a imaginable acme betwixt Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy and that determination is nary program for specified a meeting.

Speaking to NBC’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker”, Lavrov said successful comments aired connected Friday that Putin had made wide helium was acceptable to conscionable Zelenskyy to sermon a imaginable woody to extremity the war successful Ukraine, provided determination was a due docket for specified a session, thing helium said was lacking for now.

Both Russia and Ukraine are trying to amusement US President Donald Trump that they are acceptable to effort to onslaught a bid deal, thing the US person has said helium wants to broker, portion accusing the different of not being sincere oregon acceptable to negociate successful bully faith.

“Putin is acceptable to conscionable with Zelenskyy erstwhile the docket would beryllium acceptable for a summit. And this docket is not acceptable astatine all,” Lavrov told NBC, saying nary gathering was truthful planned for now.

Lavrov said Russia had agreed to amusement flexibility connected a fig of issues raised by Trump astatine a US-Russia summit past week, but accused Ukraine of not showing the aforesaid flexibility successful talks with Trump and European allies that followed successful Washington.

“He [Trump] intelligibly indicated – it was precise wide to everybody that determination are respective principles which Washington believes indispensable beryllium accepted, including nary NATO rank [for Ukraine], including the treatment of territorial issues, and Zelenskyy said nary to everything,” said Lavrov.

“He adjacent said nary to, arsenic I said, to cancelling authorities banning the Russian language. How tin we conscionable with a idiosyncratic who is pretending to beryllium a leader?”

‘Moscow wants eastbound Donbas’

Trump had imposed an August 8 deadline for Putin to hold to an extremity to the war oregon look caller sanctions against Russia and countries that bargain its oil, but alternatively agreed to conscionable the Kremlin person astatine a acme successful Alaska past Friday.

Since then, Russia has shown small movement, maintaining astir of its longstanding demands portion proposing to frost the beforehand enactment successful 2 Ukrainian regions it claims arsenic its own, and expressing a readiness to perchance manus backmost comparatively tiny pieces of Ukrainian territory it controls.

Putin wants Ukraine to springiness up each of the eastbound Donbas region, renounce ambitions to articulation NATO, stay neutral and support Western troops retired of the country, 3 sources acquainted with top-level Kremlin reasoning person told the Reuters quality agency.

Zelenskyy, who has said helium does not privation to “gift” Russia immoderate territory, said connected Friday the Kremlin was doing everything it could to marque definite that a gathering betwixt him and Putin did not instrumentality place. He called connected Ukraine’s allies to use caller sanctions connected Moscow if it showed nary tendency to extremity the war.