Zelinski says Russia is trying to stop meeting peace and prolonging the war

Ukraine President Volodymr Zelensky accused Russia of “doing everything in its power” to prevent a meeting with Vladimir Putin to try to end the war.

US President Donald Trump sought to gather the two leaders together, but said on Friday, “This is like oil and vinegar … they are not well.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Putin is ready to meet the Ukraine leader, “When the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all,” accusing Zelinski of saying “No to everything.”

A week after diplomacy, as Trump Putin first met in Alaska and then Zelinski with European leaders in Washington, the US president said the war was more difficult to stop.

Trump said after a call with the Russian leader on Monday that he had started arrangements for the Putin Zelinski summit to join after that.

Ukraine president supported this step, but he sought security guarantees from Western allies to prevent any future Russian attack in the event of a peace agreement: “Ukraine, unlike Russia, is not afraid of any meetings between leaders.”

On a visit to KYIV, NATO Secretary -General Mark Ritti said that Trump was aiming to “break the stalemate” and the coalition was working on strong security guarantees with the United States and Europe to ensure “Putin” will never try to attack Ukraine again.

Speaking to Root, Zelinski said he wanted Ukraine Security guarantees To reflect Article 5 of NATO, which is an attack on a member of the coalition as an attack on all NATO members.

“This is the beginning of a great process, and it is not easy, because the guarantees consist of what our Ukraine partners can give, as well as what the Ukrainian army should be, and where we can find opportunities for the army to maintain its strength,” Zellinski said.

Root said that the coalition was working with Ukraine to determine the guarantees, explaining that they would focus on making the Ukraine army as strong as possible and include Western security obligations. He added, “It is too early to say exactly what the result will be.”

Security guarantees have been agreed in the past, but do not respect. NATO Secretary -General insisted that lessons have learned from previous agreements such as the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which Ukraine agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons in exchange for “assurances” from Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom about its future security.

In response to a question from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), what will say to the Ukrainians who do not have faith that any thing that will come from these recent diplomatic efforts, Zelensky said: “Maybe I am exposed, but Washington felt successfully.

“Why? Because yes, Ukraine needs security guarantees. But without the United States, Europe will not give us everything in its power.

“I don’t know how this will end, but this is much better than it was a week or two.

“We have seen unity in Washington. It is still political, but it is just the first step to work on security guarantees.”

It seems that the Russian Foreign Minister praises any possible summit, as he told NBC News that “there is no planned meeting.”

Sergey Lavrov said that Russia agreed to show flexibility on a number of issues that Trump raised at the Russian summit in Alaska last week.

He continued to accuse Ukraine of not showing the same flexibility in the subsequent talks in Washington, and blamed Ukraine for impeding progress towards a peace agreement.

“It is very clear to everyone that there are many principles that Washington believes to be accepted,” Lavrov said.

He said that this includes any NATO membership in Ukraine and discussions on regional issues: “Zelinski said no for everything.”

He was speaking after he told the head of the European Union Foreign Policy Kaja Callas BBC that Putin was looking for regional concessions from Ukraine, which was “a trap that we wanted to walk in.”

“We forget that Russia has not made one privilege and that they are the aggressor here,” said Callas.

Later on Friday, Putin said there is a “light at the end of the tunnel” of relations between Russia and the United States, referring to a meeting last week with Trump in Alaska, which he referred to as “very good, meaningful and frank.”

The Russian leader said that Trump’s leadership qualities will help restore relations from their lowest levels.

Ukraine did not mention a meeting with Zelinski.

Despite the efforts made to expand a peace agreement, Russia fired one of its attacks on Ukraine in weeks on Thursday, with 574 drones and 40 missiles in one night.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian drone detonated the oil pumping station in the Russian region of Bianank, which stopped the oil connections along the Druze pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia – the third attack on the pipeline in nine days.

Hungary and Slovakia depend largely on the Druzbha pipeline for their oil supplies, and Budapest says it may take at least five days before resuming operations. The two countries in the European Union complained to the European Commission.

The European Union sought to reduce energy supplies in Russia after its widely invaded Ukraine in 2022 and aims to gradually get rid of Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027.

Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Urban wrote to President Trump to complain about the attack on the pipeline, and his officials published Trump’s handwritten response.

“Victor – I don’t like hearing this – I am very angry at that,” he wrote.

“Tell Slovakia. You are my great friend.”