Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have not had a face-to-face meeting during Russia’s war on Ukraine, which began more than four years ago, and have not met at all since December of 2019, shortly after Zelensky’s election that April, and long before the war began with the Russian invasion in 2022.
A diplomatic process to end the war, suggested by various parties, could involve the two leaders meeting in person, possibly as part of the final stage of a peace agreement.
Ukraine President Zelensky 2026 Creative Commons Photo
Zelensky Speaking in UK Ukraine Government Photo
Zelensky, speaking this week, appeared to joke that he would only come to Moscow for such talks “on a missile.”
According to the Kyiv Independent, Zelensky made the comment at the U.N. General Assembly when a Russian reporter asked whether he would come to Moscow for talks. Putin has offered to host Zelensky for talks in Russia, while Zelensky has repeatedly said he would be willing to meet his Russian counterpart at a neutral location.
The Kyiv Independent described the reporters who asked Zelensky the question at the United Nations as “pro-government journalists” from Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov interpreted Zelensky’s answer not as a joke or rejection, but as a statement that he was not ruling out a visit to Moscow.
Proposals For a Meeting
In his United Nations address on Wednesday, Zelensky proposed a trilateral meeting with Putin and President Donald Trump, and also called for a ceasefire in attacks on energy infrastructure.
Zelensky also asked Trump to “engage” with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he said influences Putin. The United Nations speech followed the meeting Zelensky held with Trump the day before, on the sidelines of the meeting.
According to Axios, whose reporter spoke with Zelensky, the Trump Administration has proposed a three-step ceasefire for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which would involve a trilateral meeting of the leaders, a ceasefire on energy attacks, and the reopening of the Black Sea grain corridor.
Trump, per the report, is very concerned that attacks on energy facilities are causing diesel prices to spike and wants to alleviate this in the short term. Diesel prices earlier this month reached a $6-per-gallon average for the first time in history.
Axios also reported that Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev was set to arrive in New York on Thursday to meet with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are Trump’s envoys for Russia-Ukraine and Iran talks. Earlier this month, Witkoff and Kushner made their first visit to Kyiv since Trump’s return to office, then moved on to Moscow.
Previous Meeting Pushes
More than a year ago, in August 2025, Trump called for an in-person meeting between Putin and Zelensky, Al Jazeera reported. Both Zelensky and Putin said they were interested in such a meeting, but it never happened.
This came as European allies discussed NATO Article 5-style security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a potential solution to the conflict. By December, Politico reported, the U.S. was making a similar offer to Ukraine as part of talks.
Politico also reported at the time that Zelensky and other European leaders were hesitant to accept a deal with Russia unless it included a full U.S. security guarantee.
Their Other Meeting
According to Sky News, Putin and Zelensky have met only once before, in 2019. Zelensky’s predecessor as Ukraine’s leader, Petro Poroshenko, had met with Putin on many occasions.
Putin and Zelensky met at the Normandy Format Summit in December 2019, when they discussed how to stop fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region. The summit was a roundtable that also included French President Emmanuel Macron and then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The summit resulted in an agreement to put into place “all necessary ceasefire support measures” and release prisoners of war. They also agreed to a roadmap for elections in Luhansk and Donetsk. However, those agreements did not lead to any long-term success or change, aside from some prisoner releases.
Another version of the summit took place in January 2022, shortly before the invasion the next month, although the leaders did not attend.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
