Sawt Falasteen - Hopes dim for Putin-Zelensky peace summit

Trump had raised expectations on Monday by saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky had agreed to meet face-to-face -- but on Friday he compared the two men to "oil and vinegar."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said "no meeting" was planned as Trump's mediation efforts appeared to stall, while Zelensky said Russia was trying to prolong the war.

Trump told reporters on Friday he would make an "important" decision in two weeks on Ukraine peace efforts, specifying that Moscow could face massive sanctions -- or he might "do nothing."

"It takes two to tango," the US president, wearing a red baseball cap saying "Trump was right about everything," said in the Oval Office.

"In two weeks, we will know which way I'm going. Because I will go one way or the other, and I'll learn which way I'm going," he added.

"That's whether or not it's massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both. Or do we do nothing and say it's your fight."

- 'No meeting planned' -

Trump did however hold up a photo that he said Putin had sent him after their landmark summit in Alaska a week ago. He also said that he may invite the Russian leader to the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals being held in the United States if there is progress on Ukraine.

Lavrov dampened hopes for direct Putin-Zelensky talks to resolve the conflict, now in its fourth year, by questioning the Ukrainian president's legitimacy and repeating the Kremlin's maximalist claims.

"There is no meeting planned," Lavrov said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press with Kristen Welker."

The veteran Russian diplomat said Putin was "ready to meet Zelensky" as soon as an agenda was prepared. He added that such an agenda was "not ready at all."

In Kyiv, speaking alongside visiting NATO chief Mark Rutte, Zelensky said Ukraine had "no agreements with the Russians."

On Thursday, Zelensky had accused Russia of "trying to wriggle out of holding a meeting," adding that Moscow wanted to continue the offensive.

The question of eventual security guarantees for Ukraine has been front and center during the latest US-led diplomatic push to broker a peace deal to end the conflict.

Trump -- who hosted Zelensky, Rutte and top European leaders at the White House on Monday before making a call to Putin -- said Russia had agreed to some Western security guarantees for Kyiv.

- 'Road to nowhere' -

But Moscow later cast doubt on any such arrangement, Lavrov saying on Wednesday that discussing them without Russia was "a road to nowhere."

"When Russia raises the issue of security guarantees, I honestly do not yet know who is threatening them," said Zelensky, who wants foreign troops in Ukraine to deter Russian attacks in the future.

The Kremlin has long said it would never accept that, citing Ukraine's NATO ambition as one of the pretexts for its invasion.

On a visit to Kyiv, during which an air raid alert sounded across the city, Rutte said security guarantees were needed to ensure "Russia will uphold any deal and will never ever again attempt to take one square kilometer of Ukraine."

Moscow signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994, which was aimed at ensuring security for Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan in exchange for them giving up numerous nuclear weapons left from the Soviet era.

Russia violated that first by taking Crimea in 2014, and then by starting a full-scale offensive in 2022, which has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.

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M.AlAhmad--SF-PST