Ukrainian President Voldymir Zelensky has been pursuing direct consultations with Russian Vladimir Putin since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia’s Ukraine.
The Kremlin has always refused. However, recent push from Donald Trump brings the possibility of a meeting more than ever before.
Where is the current question, not just when?
Putin’s International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for the acquiring of children in Ukraine restricts the choice of location, as he risks arrests in one of the 125 member states of the court if he steps into their territory.
Some of them were ready to make exceptions and promised not to arrest Putin if he came to a meeting that could end the war with Ukraine.
Switzerland is a possible option. The country’s foreign minister said despite the ICC’s arrest warrant, he is ready to host Putin for peace negotiations.
Despite its neutral status, Switzerland is a signatory to the Roman law that established the court, but Ignazio Cassis said that if Putin came for peace, the country could receive him.
“This has to do with our diplomatic role, and Geneva International is the (European) headquarters of the United Nations,” Cassis said.
French President Emmanuel Macron is reportedly supporting the idea of Geneva as a potential location in Geneva following a White House meeting with European leaders on Monday.
Austrian Prime Minister Christian Stocker said he provided his country, also a signator of the ICC, as a potential venue, and supported the initiative that Vienna would lead to just and lasting peace protecting Ukraine and European security interests.
“As a proud host of OSCE and many other international organizations, we are ready to provide our good service,” he said in a post on X.
Countries in the Middle East can be a place of solid compromise.
In March, Saudi Arabia first held its US delegation for meetings between Ukrainians and Russian officials.
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are possible options
Despite being a relatively small Gulf state, Doha’s Euroneuz correspondent, Adel Halem, Qatar has seats at the international table and is frequently sought as a go-to mediator in several international conflicts.
These mediation efforts include Russia and Ukraine. Especially regarding the return of Ukrainian children who were forced to deport to Russia.
Even when missiles were caught up in a crossfire between the US, Iran and Israel in June when they were intercepted in the airspace, Qatar relied on mediating peace and removing tensions. In 2020, Qatar held historic consultations between US officials and the Taliban, leading to the Doha Accord, and ultimately paved the way for the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
Recently, Qatar has continued to mediate consultations between Israel and Hamas, which has led to several temporary ceasefires and provided humanitarian aid to Gaza. Qatar believes mediation efforts are a central tenet of its foreign policy and a clear indicator of its soft power.
Like Qatar, the United Arab Emirates deliberately shapes its role as a diplomatic broker. This is a nation that can both move between rival forces while maintaining credibility, Dubai’s Euroneus correspondent Toby Gregory added that the strategy has expanded directly to Russian wars in Ukraine.
Earlier this year, Emirati officials helped arrange interactions with children taken to Russia, bringing Ukrainian prisoners into their homes. The Emirates reminded us that others can act within a limited range.
At the same time, Abu Dhabi is preserving its dialogue with Moscow.
Earlier this month, President Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan traveled to Russia for a meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Zelensky and Putin’s only meeting
Since Zelenskyy became Ukrainian president in 2019, direct communication with President Putin has been limited as Russia has already occupied Ukrainian territory in the eastern and Crimea.
The two presidents only had two phone calls and one in-person meeting in 2019.
Zelensky and Putin met in Paris at their first and only time during a Normandy style summit in front of German and French leaders.
In the closed room, the two reportedly discussed issues, albeit on an even larger scale, still relevant. A prisoner exchange and ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.
In the spring of 2021, when Russia began gathering troops near the Ukrainian border ahead of a full-scale invasion, Zelensky offered to meet with Putin, the eastern region of Ukraine, which Russia has now been occupying and trying to annex for over 12 years.
Putin declined, denied Russia being part of the conflict and invited Zelensky to Moscow instead. The meeting never happened.
As Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, Zelenkie again called for consultation. Putin again refused to talk at the presidential level, sending only low-level delegations to negotiate the first attempt near the Belarusian border.
Later, a revelation of massive Russian atrocities in Bucha – the Ukrainian government says 458 civilians have been killed, and other settlements around the Ukrainian capital have strengthened their stance on communication with the Kremlin.
After Donald Trump returned to the White House, the Ukrainian president updated his push for direct consultations with Moscow, now supported by the US administration.
In May, Zelenskyy made a surprising announcement that he was willing to meet Putin at Türkiye. The Ukrainian president traveled to Türkier, but Putin did not appear and instead sent a lower level delegation again.
Donald Trump has argued that a meeting between Zelensky and Putin must be held as he is actively trying to mediate Kiev and Moscow.
However, the format remains unknown. One possibility is that they are bilateral between Zelensky and Putin, then later include Trump.
That format allows Trump to maintain his position as peace supervision if the meeting does not produce concrete results.
According to US media, Trump intends to leave Russia and Ukraine to organize a meeting between leaders without playing a direct role for the time being, and will step back from negotiations to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to administrative officials familiar with the situation.
But Trump reportedly told his advisor he intends to hold a trilateral meeting with the two leaders, only after they first met.
