Putin Ready To Meet Zelenskyy, Conditionally

Lavrov Accuses Major European Powers Of Trying To Undermine The Progress Made At Alaska Summit

- AGENCIES

Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but all issues must be worked through first, and there's a question about Zelenskyy's authority to sign a peace deal, Putin's foreign minister said on Thursday.

Putin and US President Donald Trump met on Friday in Alaska for the first Russia-US summit in more than four years, and the two leaders discussed how to end the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two. After his summit talks in Alaska, Trump said on Monday he had begun arranging a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, to be followed by a trilateral summit with the US president.

Asked by reporters if Putin was willing to meet Zelenskyy, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: "Our president has repeatedly said that he is ready to meet, including with Zelenskyy."