German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he no longer expects a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in the near future, DPA reported, BTA reported.
During a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at his summer residence in Fort de Bregancon on the Cote d'Azur, Merz said the two leaders discussed diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
"Today we have to deal with this issue again, given that there will obviously be no meeting between President Zelensky and President Putin," he noted.
This is "different from what was agreed between President Trump and President Putin last week when we were together in Washington," Merz also said.
After his phone call with the Russian leader early last week Trump announced that Putin had agreed to meet with Zelensky.
Moscow has since spoken only of its readiness to take the previous bilateral peace talks to a higher level. The Kremlin has been accused of delaying tactics by Ukraine and its allies, DPA notes.
German Foreign Minister Johann Waddefull, who is skeptical about Moscow's readiness to negotiate, previously expressed a similar opinion to Merz. "I have the greatest doubts that there will be negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in the foreseeable future," he told the German magazine "Focus" yesterday.