German Chancellor Rules Out Zelenskyy-Putin Meeting

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said there will be no meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Orda.kz reports.

His statement follows the latest Russian airstrikes on Kyiv overnight August 27–28, which killed at least 22 people, including four children, according to the head of the Kyiv city military administration

It will not come to a meeting between the President of Ukraine and President Putin, as was the case between Trump and Putin last week,  Merz stated ahead of his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Besançon.

At the same time, the White House said neither Putin nor Zelenskyy are prepared to end the conflict on their own.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who met Putin in Anchorage and later Zelenskyy in Washington, was dissatisfied with the strikes and is closely monitoring the situation, according to press secretary Caroline Levitt. 

She added that Trump will issue further statements later, noting that U.S. peace efforts cannot succeed unless both Russia and Ukraine are willing to engage.

The Atlantic reported that Trump is frustrated that his diplomacy has yielded little and views Ukraine’s demands as “unrealistic.” According to the outlet, Trump wants the war to end and “it hardly matters to him how.”

Although Trump earlier suggested preparations had begun for potential talks between Zelenskyy and Putin, he later stepped back from facilitating such a meeting. For now, prospects for direct negotiations between the two leaders appear to be at a standstill.

Original Author: Raushan Korzhumbekova