Russian invasion Negotiations

Analysis: Meeting between Putin and Zelensky unlikely

A meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky as the next step in the peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia is not very likely. This is the opinion of several analysts after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that a meeting with “high representatives must be prepared with the utmost care”.

Clare Sebastian writes in CNN that in Kremlin language this means that they are not ready for it at all.

“If Trump’s pressure on Zelensky has not produced the results Moscow wants, there is always the military force to fall back on”, she writes and points to the massive Russian attack on Monday.

In DN, Ingmar Nevéus writes that a summit could only take place if the US lifts its sanctions or Kyiv capitulates.

Dmitry Popov writes in Moskovskij Komsomolets that there is an alternative – that a “legitimate leader” according to the Kremlin, takes over after a summit with Zelensky.

Sources: Europe only pretends to believe in Trump's peace attempt

European leaders are convinced that Vladimir Putin does not want peace in Ukraine and that Donald Trump's attempt to reach a peace agreement will fail, sources tell Politico.

According to the site, Europe's strategy is to play along with Trump's peace attempt in the hope that the American president will reach the same conclusion as them and start to get tough with Putin.

- It is clear that Trump will have to act if Putin shows that he does not want to end the war, says a European diplomat.

The hope is that Trump will eventually use the sanctions card against Putin. 

Sources: Ten European countries willing to send troops to Ukraine

Around ten European countries have expressed a willingness to send troops to Ukraine as part of a possible peace settlement. This emerged during the European summit held on Tuesday, sources tell Bloomberg.

France and the UK are two of the countries, but the names of the others are not clear from Bloomberg's information.

The soldiers would be stationed in Ukraine and guarantee the country's security. The details of such an arrangement are still unclear, such as how large the force would be and where they would be stationed.

NATO defense chiefs are to meet in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss the issue, Reuters reports.