Russia, Ukraine, US: Zelenskyy says Washington working to set up trilateral meeting

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday said the US was working to set up a trilateral meeting with Russia as a platform to discuss peace negotiations, stating Kyiv was ready to hold meetings anywhere, in any format.Zelenskyy laid out several possible venues for the trilateral discussion, including during G20 summit in the US.“Another possibility is for the meeting to take place in the United States during the G20 summit. But there has been no confirmation yet from Russia or from the United States,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.He said the meeting could also take place in Saudi Arabia, the UAE or European countries.Zelenskyy also expressed his disappointment with recent US-Russia engagement and energy deal, stressing that the pressure needs to be on Moscow, not Kyiv.“We’re counting on them to put more pressure on Putin, not on us,” Zelenskyy said.“Otherwise, it’s simply unfair,” he added.The Ukrainian President said Europeans need to have their own infrastructure and their own track for negotiations with Russia, and not overly rely on the United States.We need to pursue every possible avenue to stop the war, he said.Land beyond negotiationsRussia, however, has hinted that some of Ukraine’s territories may exist beyond peace talksRussian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow was establishing a buffer “security zone” inside Ukraine to protect Russia’s border regions, adding that the zone would not be part of any future peace negotiations.Putin made the remarks during a visit to a command post of Russia’s joint military task force. He linked the operation to Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region in 2024-25, saying Russian forces had been instructed to drive Ukrainian troops out of Russian territory and extend the operation into neighbouring Ukrainian territory.“The Russian armed forces were tasked not only with expelling the enemy from our land but also with establishing a security zone in the adjacent territory. This task is being carried out successfully,” he said in televised comments.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.