Zelenskyy agrees to meet Putin at G20; Kremlin says Moscow only — SkimNews
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- Zelenskyy told Deutsche Welle he is willing to meet Putin at the G20 summit in Miami on December 14-15, saying only "results" matter: "What I will tell him or what he wants to tell me, it doesn't matter."
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the proposal on the spot in New Delhi, calling it "impossible" and reiterating Moscow's demand that any meeting take place only in the Russian capital.
- Trump special envoy Jared Kushner told a Kyiv security forum via videolink on Friday that he hopes to announce the "next steps" of talks to end the war within "a couple of weeks," after visiting both Moscow and Kyiv last weekend with negotiator Steve Witkoff.
- Zelenskyy said Ukraine now holds a "good position for negotiations" because it is "much stronger than last year on the battlefield," even as Kyiv officials warned intensifying strikes on energy could shrink GDP by 1.5 points this year and make the coming winter "very difficult."
- Zelenskyy urged allies for more Patriot interceptor missiles, noting U.S. supplies have been reduced after Washington used large stockpiles during its war with Iran, and that production capacity is "not too big."
Why it matters: The pattern is stark and asymmetric: Zelenskyy accepted a U.S. venue, Putin previously rejected a G7 invitation in France, and now the Kremlin narrows the only acceptable location to Moscow — which Zelenskyy has not yet agreed to. With U.S. shuttle diplomacy by Witkoff and Kushner actively underway and Ukraine warning of a 1.5-point GDP contraction plus Patriot missile shortages after the U.S. Iran war, the December G20 becomes the next deadline pressure point where Trump's leverage meets Putin's venue precondition.
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