By Jerry Williams
KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of deliberately stalling efforts to hold a peace summit with President Vladimir Putin, despite recent diplomatic pushes led by the United States.
“Russia is doing everything it can to prevent a meeting,” Zelensky said on Friday, following a high-level week of negotiations that included talks between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska and a follow-up meeting with Zelensky and European leaders in Washington.
Trump, who has expressed frustration with the slow progress, admitted, “This is the hardest conflict I’ve tried to stop.” He described the strained relations between the two leaders as “like oil and vinegar… they don’t get along too well.”
Despite this, Trump confirmed that he had started arrangements for a summit between Putin and Zelensky, one he plans to join afterward.
Zelensky has welcomed the initiative but insists that any peace deal must be backed by concrete Western security guarantees to deter future Russian aggression. “Ukraine, unlike Russia, is not afraid of any meetings between leaders,” he said.
Speaking in Kyiv alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Zelensky called for protections that mirror NATO’s Article 5 — a collective defense clause that considers an attack on one member as an attack on all.
“This is the beginning of a big undertaking,” Zelensky noted. “Guarantees must involve what our partners can provide and what the Ukrainian army must be to remain strong.”
Rutte echoed the importance of these guarantees and said NATO is working with the U.S. and EU to shape a security framework that would prevent Russia “from ever trying to attack Ukraine again.”
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cast doubt on the summit’s prospects, telling NBC News that “no meeting is planned.” He added that Russia had shown “flexibility” on some issues raised by Trump during their recent meeting but accused Zelensky of rejecting all proposals.
Lavrov said a summit would only happen “when the agenda is ready — and it’s not ready at all.”
Despite growing international pressure, the gap between Russia’s demands and Ukraine’s conditions continues to block progress toward formal negotiations.
