Trump asked Ukraine’s Zelensky to meet Putin in the Russian capital for peace talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attending a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 22.

NEW YORK – President Donald Trump this week again encouraged Volodymyr Zelensky to travel to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin, despite repeated past refusals, as the US looks to reignite Ukraine-Russia peace talks. 

Zelensky declined the appeal made in his meeting with the US leader at the United Nations, and people familiar with the Ukrainian president’s position said Trump raising the issue upset him.

When asked by reporters when he would visit Moscow, Zelensky replied: “On a missile,” followed by an expletive. 

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Zelensky and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov each held separate meetings with Trump administration officials in New York this week. The US has pushed both sides to agree to a truce on attacking each other’s energy assets as global diesel prices surge, but neither has accepted.

Zelensky said on Sept 25 that technical peace negotiations with Ukraine and Russia will likely take place in the United Arab Emirates, though the US has not yet proposed a date. 

European officials say Trump and his team were receptive to their lobbying efforts on support for Ukraine before winter sets in. They also said Trump’s meeting with Zelensky was largely positive. 

Trump has not decided whether he will send Ukraine more air defence supplies this winter, as the US grapples with its own shortages due to the Iran war, but has agreed to grant Ukraine licences to produce Patriot missiles. 

Zelensky said on Sept 25 that Trump told him he’d made the final decision this week, though did not elaborate on the timing of deliveries. Production is not expected to start for at least a year, so will not address Ukraine’s more urgent need to protect its critical infrastructure assets against Russian attack over the colder months. 

Trump’s suggestion of a Russia meeting came the same week Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the US has invited Putin to attend the Group of 20 summit in Florida in December, a statement met with criticism in Europe. 

The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas told CNN that the announcement “was very hard to hear.”

People close to the Kremlin have suggested that Putin is likely to skip the G-20 anyway and attend a summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in November. 

Europe is also growing worried about a push by some Republican lawmakers to ban US diesel exports. Trump this week said he supports the idea, with wars in Iran and Ukraine driving the fuel’s price to record levels.

A pause in exports would force Europe and Latin America to search for hard-to-find alternatives, adding to inflationary pressures around the globe. Trump is under pressure to address the high cost of diesel in the US before the November midterm elections. BLOOMBERG