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Zelenskyy can come to Moscow if he really wants to meet Putin: Kremlin

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12, 2026. (AFP Photo)
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Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12, 2026. (AFP Photo)
September 12, 2026 04:50 PM GMT+03:00

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could travel to Moscow if he genuinely wants to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, responding to Zelenskyy's offer to meet Putin at the G20 summit in Miami in December.

"If he really wants to meet with Putin, then Putin has already said earlier that he can come to Moscow," Peskov said in New Delhi, commenting on Zelenskyy's stated wish to meet Putin "on the sidelines" of the G20 summit.

This combination of pictures, created on August 18, 2025, shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (AFP Photo)
This combination of pictures, created on August 18, 2025, shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (AFP Photo)

Zelenskyy's Miami offer

In an interview with DW, Zelenskyy said he would travel to Miami if Putin attended the G20 leaders' summit scheduled for December.

"Yes, of course. We have to come. We have to meet, to speak, and to make decisions," Zelenskyy told DW correspondent Misha Komadovsky.

He said the substance of what would be said mattered less than the outcome.

"It's not about words. What I will tell him or what he wants to tell me, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter... Results matter. That's it," Zelenskyy added.

Zelenskyy and Putin have not met in person since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

Putin has not personally attended a G20 summit since 2019.

Kremlin: No decision yet on Miami

Peskov said Saturday that no decision had been made on whether Putin would attend the summit. "We do not know yet whether we will be going to Miami," Peskov said.

He added that it remained unclear whether Putin would attend the summit at all.

Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin's foreign policy aide, said the Kremlin had not even discussed Putin's participation internally.

"Everyone has been invited, I believe, unfortunately, except South Africa. But the question hasn't even been discussed. Our work is being carried out at the expert level. Our experts are constantly working on the documents for the upcoming summit, so everything is proceeding as usual," Ushakov said.

"As for the possibility of Putin's trip, this question hasn't even been discussed on our end," he added.

Ushakov said "work with the Americans is ongoing," noting that Putin had recently spoken with U.S. President Donald Trump, describing the tone of those conversations as "quite friendly and constructive."Ukraine in 'good position for negotiations'

Zelenskyy told DW it was a "good signal" that U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited Kyiv earlier in the week, not just Moscow.

He said he had told the envoys that Ukraine was well-placed for negotiations to end the conflict, citing Russian losses estimated at more than 30,000 soldiers a month for what he described as small territorial gains.

"So that's why we think that we have now good position for negotiations," Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine was in a stronger position than the previous year.

Last weekend, U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited Moscow, and Putin and Trump also discussed the war during the week in what the Kremlin termed an "extremely frank" and constructive hour-long phone call.

Last month, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was invited by the U.S. to attend a meeting of G20 finance officials in North Carolina, a move that reportedly upset European officials at the time.

September 12, 2026 04:50 PM GMT+03:00
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