Zelenskyy wants to meet Putin at G20 , Kremlin says it’s ‘impossible’

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Author: AFP,
Publish Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2026, 9:44am

Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photos / Getty Images

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would be willing to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Miami, the United States, for talks on ending the war.

But the Kremlin immediately ruled it out, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the proposal was “impossible” – repeating Moscow’s demand that a meeting could only take place in the Russian capital.

The gathering of world leaders takes place on December 14 and 15 and there has been no confirmation yet as to whether Putin would attend.

Asked if the Kremlin was considering an alternative location for a meeting with Zelenskyy, Peskov replied: “There is a readiness to meet him in Moscow”.

Putin has repeatedly rejected offers for a face-to-face meeting with Zelenskyy aimed at brokering an end to more than four years of war, which have killed thousands of people and crippled both countries’ economies.

Officials in Kyiv said intensifying strikes on key sectors, including energy, could see Ukrainian GDP slump by 1.5 points this year, and that this coming winter would be “very difficult”.

The latest offer comes as Washington seeks to kick-start long-stalled talks on Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, with US negotiators visiting Kyiv and Moscow and US President Donald Trump and Putin this week holding talks over the phone.

Trump’s special envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner told a security forum in Kyiv via videolink that he hoped to announce the “next steps” of talks to end the war within “a couple of weeks”.

The US holds this year’s presidency of the Group of 20 major economies, which comprises 19 countries plus the European Union and the African Union.

Russia’s finance minister has already attended one G20 meeting.

Asked whether he would be willing to meet Putin at the December summit if both leaders were invited, Zelenskyy told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle: “Yes, of course”.

He added: “We have to come. We have to meet, to speak, and make decisions. It’s not about words. What I will tell him or what he wants to tell me, it doesn’t matter.”

He said all that mattered were “results”.

In June Zelenskyy said he had proposed meeting Putin in the US during a call with Trump and was waiting to see what came of it.

The Ukrainian leader previously said that Putin ignored an invitation to meet him at a G7 summit in France the same month.

Last weekend, US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Kushner visited Moscow and Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said that Witkoff and Kushner’s visit was a “good signal”, and it was important the pair had made a trip to Kyiv as well as Moscow.

Zelenskyy has also announced he planned to meet Trump in late September, as Washington pushed for fresh face-to-face talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

Asked about Ukraine’s position ahead of possible negotiations, Zelenskyy responded: “Ukraine now is much more stronger than last year on the battlefield. That’s why we think that we have now [a] good position for negotiations.”

Kyiv has said the talks could happen as early as this month, but the Kremlin said it was “too early” to discuss a venue or dates.

Several previous rounds of negotiations have failed. Trust between the sides is low, and there is no sign that Moscow or Kyiv have shifted their positions.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have escalated long-range strikes on each other in recent months, leading to the highest civilian death toll since the early days of the war.

Overnight Russian strikes killed four people in Ukraine, including two in Zaporizhzhia in the south and two at an ArcelorMittal plant in central Kryvyi Rih, local authorities and the steelmaker said.

Zelenskyy has repeated his call for Ukraine’s allies to provide more missiles to fend off Russian air attacks.

- AFP