Macron says Putin-Zelensky meeting possible in two weeks

Paris, Aug 19 (IANS) French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could happen in the next two weeks.

Speaking in an interview with the French LCI news channel, Macron said that Putin, who held phone talks with US President Donald Trump on Monday, expressed his readiness to meet Zelensky within that timeframe, Xinhua News Agency reported.

"We have decided to have a bilateral meeting between the two Presidents, then a trilateral meeting (with Trump), and then a multilateral meeting where the Europeans must be at the table," Macron said.

The French President added that such meetings should be held in Europe, reflecting the "collective will" of European leaders.

Unlike their 2019 meeting in France, Macron suggested that the upcoming meetings could take place in a "neutral country," such as Switzerland or Turkey, where Russia and Ukraine have previously held bilateral talks.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia proposed a bilateral meeting with Ukraine, followed by a trilateral meeting.

In a news conference following his meetings with US President Donald Trump at the White House, Zelensky said on Monday that he is ready for "any format" of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He said that he would participate in the following trilateral meeting, depending on how the first meeting goes.

Zelensky added that he does not know the details about the proposed bilateral meeting.

He said that he does not want to impose conditions on the meeting because Putin would follow with his own conditions.

"I believe unconditionally we should meet and think about the further development of this path to the end of the war," he said.

Putin told Trump on Monday that he is willing to meet Zelensky, a person familiar with the call said.

Putin told Trump, whom he met Friday in Alaska, of his readiness to meet Zelensky during a telephone call in a break from White House talks in Washington with European leaders, the person said on condition of anonymity.

Trump said on Monday that he had started arranging a two-way peace meeting between Ukraine's Zelensky and Russia's Putin -- to be followed by three-way talks involving himself.

"At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky," he said after hosting the Ukrainian President and European leaders at the White House.

"After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself."

--IANS

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