Zelensky Accuses Moscow of Dodging Peace Talks Despite US Push for Ukraine-Russia Summit

Aug 2025 : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday accused Russia of deliberately evading efforts to arrange a direct meeting with President Vladimir Putin, despite ongoing attempts by the United States and European partners to broker peace in the nearly four-year-long war.

The accusation came amid a renewed wave of Russian attacks across Ukraine and heightened diplomatic activity in Washington, where US President Donald Trump has been pressing for negotiations aimed at ending Russia’s invasion.

US-Led Push for Negotiations

President Trump has sought to bring both Zelensky and Putin to the negotiating table, arguing that dialogue offers the best chance of halting the war. In recent weeks, Trump has engaged in high-profile discussions with Putin in Alaska and held separate meetings with Zelensky and European leaders in Washington.

Yet despite the flurry of diplomacy, little tangible progress has emerged. Russia continues to harden its stance, while Ukraine insists that any talks must be built on concrete security guarantees from its allies to prevent future aggression.

“We are ready for dialogue, but Russia is trying to wriggle out of holding a meeting,” Zelensky said in his evening address. “Frankly speaking, the signals coming from Russia are simply outrageous. They don’t want to end this war. They continue their massive attacks on Ukraine and their ferocious assaults along the front line.”

Conditions for Peace Talks

Zelensky has made clear that he is willing to meet Putin but only under specific conditions. Any summit, he said, must be held in a neutral European country, explicitly ruling out Moscow as a venue. He also rejected the idea of China acting as a guarantor of Ukrainian security, saying Kyiv prefers a Western-backed framework.

For Ukraine, the crux of negotiations lies in security guarantees. Kyiv has pushed its allies—including Britain, France, and the United States—to assemble a framework that would deter future Russian aggression once active hostilities stop. “We hope to have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to ten days,” Zelensky said.

Moscow, however, has dismissed Ukraine’s demands as unrealistic. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Kyiv of seeking guarantees incompatible with Russian interests, and warned that the deployment of European troops on Ukrainian soil would be “absolutely unacceptable.”

Escalation on the Battlefield

While diplomacy falters, the war continues to escalate. On Wednesday night, Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles across Ukraine in what officials described as the largest barrage since mid-July. The strikes killed at least one person in the western city of Lviv, wounded dozens more, and targeted infrastructure across multiple regions.

Among the sites struck was an American-owned factory complex in Mukachevo, where 23 people were injured. The president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, Andy Hunder, condemned the attack, saying Moscow sought to “destroy and humiliate” US businesses. Zelensky called it “a deliberate strike specifically on American-owned property.”

Later, additional shelling in Kherson killed one person and injured over a dozen, while in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, officials reported at least two deaths and 21 wounded from Ukrainian artillery fire.

Russia’s Gains and Ukraine’s Response

On the battlefield, Russia claimed to have captured the village of Oleksandro-Shultyne in Donetsk, edging closer to the fortified town of Kostiantynivka. Russian forces have been slowly but steadily advancing in eastern Ukraine and consolidating their hold on areas of the south, including the Zaporizhzhia region, which Moscow formally claims as its own.

Ukraine, for its part, continues to seek ways to counterbalance Russia’s military advantage. Zelensky announced that Ukraine had successfully tested a long-range cruise missile, codenamed Flamingo, capable of striking targets up to 3,000 kilometres away. He said the missile could enter mass production by February, underscoring Kyiv’s push for advanced weaponry as the war drags on.

International Reactions

The latest Russian strikes drew strong condemnation from European leaders. France said the bombardment highlighted Moscow’s “lack of will to seriously engage in peace talks.” Meanwhile, Britain and France have been working with other allies to create a coalition of security guarantors for Ukraine.

Still, Trump acknowledged the difficulty of achieving a breakthrough. Speaking to Newsmax, he said Washington had set a two-week timeframe to assess the chances of a peace deal. “If the talks don’t work out, we may have to take a different tack,” Trump said.

Outlook

For now, Zelensky remains open to dialogue but deeply skeptical of Moscow’s intentions. The Ukrainian leader argues that Russia’s ongoing assaults, combined with its reluctance to meet face-to-face, reveal an unwillingness to negotiate in good faith.

With both sides preparing for further offensives—Russia reinforcing positions in the south and Ukraine testing new missile systems—the path to peace appears increasingly uncertain. The stakes remain high: not only for Ukraine’s sovereignty but for the wider stability of Europe, where the war has become a defining test of security, alliances, and geopolitical willpower.