Russian Foreign Minister Says No Meeting Between Putin and Zelensky 

Russia’s Foreign Minister said on Sunday there were no plans for a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, dealing a setback to President Donald Trump’s peace efforts. “Putin is ready to meet with Zelensky when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all,” Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with NBC News’ Meet the Press. A meeting between Zelensky and Putin had been a key aim of Trump’s following his talks with Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, aimed at negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine.  Trump said following the meeting that the U.S. had “begun arrangements” for a face-to-face meeting between the leaders of the warring nations. “After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years,” he posted on Truth Social. Read More: Putin Got Three Major Wins From Trump in Anchorage, But the Talks Aren’t Over Lavrov’s comments suggest President Trump may have miscalculated the momentum of peace talks overall between the two nations. Lavrov said that Russia desires peace, despite Russia launching some of its most aggressive strikes against Ukraine in weeks on Thursday. “We want peace in Ukraine. President Trump wants peace in Ukraine,” Lavrov said. “The reaction to the Anchorage meeting, the gathering in Washington of these European representatives and what they were doing after Washington, indicates that they don’t want peace.” Trump and Putin failed to reach a peace deal in the war during their meeting, although he claims that it is “extremely productive.”  Trump had originally set an August 8 deadline for Putin to end the war in Ukraine or face heavy sanctions, but he has since shifted this deadline. On Friday, Trump said he would give Russia “a couple of weeks” before imposing consequences. “But I’ll know in two weeks what I’m going to do,” Trump told reporters. On Monday, Trump met with Zelensky and European leaders, promising Ukraine that he would join Europe in providing security guarantees to Kyiv. In recent weeks, Trump has seemingly prioritized an approach to peace more aligned with Putin— namely, pursuing a full peace deal between the two nations, rather than the ceasefire that Ukraine has called for. Lavrov’s interview aired on Sunday, Ukraine’s Independence Day. Zelensky marked the day with a speech in Kyiv’s central square in which he called for a “just peace, a peace where our future will be decided only by us.”