Zelensky Again Calls for Meeting with Putin.. Russia and the United States Begin Preparing for a Presidential Summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated the necessity of holding a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war, at a time when Moscow and Washington announced the start of preparations for a summit between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump "very soon."

Zelensky posted on social media on Thursday, August 7: "We in Ukraine have repeatedly said that finding real solutions could be effective at the leaders' level. It is essential to determine the timing for such a format and the set of issues to be discussed."

On the other hand, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov revealed a preliminary agreement between Moscow and Washington to hold a high-level bilateral meeting, stating: "Based on a proposal from the American side, it has been preliminarily agreed to hold a high-level bilateral meeting in the coming days, that is, a meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump."

He added: "In cooperation with our American colleagues, we have now begun working on specific issues."

In a related context, the Russian parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee indicated that U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff showed "openness and realistic positions" during the preparatory discussions.

Trump announced on Wednesday that there is a "very high probability" of holding a meeting "very soon" with Putin and Zelensky, but he did not specify a date or location, expressing his reservations by saying: "I have been disappointed in the past."

For his part, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that "there is a lot of work" before any potential meeting, noting in an interview with "Fox Business" that "today was a good day, but we still have a lot of work to do. There are many obstacles to overcome, and we hope to achieve that in the coming days or hours or perhaps weeks."

Rubio added that the U.S. administration has become "more understanding of the conditions that make Russia willing to end the war."

Three rounds of negotiations have previously been held between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, without achieving any tangible progress towards a ceasefire, amid significant divergence in positions between the two sides.