War in Ukraine: Putin and Selenskyj: What speaks against a quick meeting?

Within two weeks, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj should meet – that was the hopeful message of US President Donald Trump after his top meetings in Alaska and Washington. But the world only knows from Trump’s words that Putin is supposedly ready for such a meeting.

Selenskyj has been asking Putin for a long time to end his three and a half years of war against Ukraine. But the Kremlin boss would have to jump over his shadow, he builds up high hurdles for a meeting. Questions and answers to a difficult relationship:

What is the personal chemistry between the two?

It does not exist. The intelligence officer Vladimir Putin (72) has been increasingly authoritarian about his giant kingdom for a quarter of a century. He understands the disintegration of the Soviet Union as an insult and has an invoice with the West. He wants to make Russia a law on the European continent, an independent Ukraine disturbs.

Selenskyj (47) was a successful comedian and television macher before going to politics in 2019. His government balance was mixed. But when Russia marched to Ukraine in February 2022, he did not let himself go to flee and became the face of Ukrainian resistance worldwide.

Have Putin and Selenskyj have ever met?

Yes, and that didn’t go well. It was in Paris in 2019, and Selenskyj had been elected shortly before because of his promise to find an understanding with Moscow. France’s President Emmanuel Macron and the then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) sat at the table.

This so-called Normandy Quartet should include the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has been fueled by Russia since 2014. But Putin let the Ukrainian run and made no concessions.

How does the Russian propaganda Selenskyj represent?

Since the war, Putin and the Moscow leadership have painted Selenskyj in the blackest colors. Putin called him a “toxic figure”. Nazis ruled in Ukraine, it said from the Kremlin, although Selenskyj is Jewish origin. The Ukrainian President was added as a drug addict, as willless puppets of the West.

Although Putin himself is only in power with the help of unfree elections, Moscow Selenskyj’s legitimacy arouses: his term of office expired in 2024. The Ukrainian laws prohibit elections during a war. In his part, Selenskyj has repeatedly accused Putin terrorism and sometimes referred to him as a full idiot.

Russia’s propaganda with the powerful television would therefore have a hard time bringing the audience closer to the audience. Putin would have to explain why he “sits together with a president he thinks is a joke from a country that does not exist.” This was said by the Ukrainian political scientist Oryisa Lutsevich from the British think tank Chatham House to the US broadcaster CNN.

What does the military situation look like for Putin?

The Kremlin boss sees himself on the winning road. His troops move in eastern Ukraine. He trusts that his country can mobilize enough people and material – unlike the smaller Ukraine. That is why Moscow has expected that Putin only has to meet Selenskyj or another representative from Kiev if Ukraine surrender.

On the other hand, the Russian advance is bought with high losses. The Russian mobilization numbers also decrease. In the Black Sea, Ukraine keeps the Russian fleet in check. The increasing drone hits of Ukraine on refineries, energy systems or railway lines in Russian hinterland are a nuisance for Putin.

What does the Kremlin say about a possible meeting?

An encounter with Selenskyj is not rejected, but pushed onto the longest as long. Moscow is open to every format, said Foreign Minister Sergei Lawrow. “But all contacts with the participation of the heads of state must be prepared extremely carefully.”

According to Moscow, delegations must first negotiate an agreement at the lower level. Only then do the heads of state themselves step on the plan and sign the pre -negotiated agreement. So far there has been little progress for the bilateral rounds of negotiations between Kiev and Moscow. Several prisoner exchanges were agreed. In the conditions for a ceasefire or even a final peace, both sides are far apart.

It was discussed between Trump and Putin that the previous direct negotiations between Moscow and Kiev should be led to a higher level than before, said Putin’s foreign policy advisor Juri Uschakow. But he also did not speak of a meeting of the presidents.

So is there no chance of a direct encounter?

After all, the request for a meeting came from Trump, with which Putin does not want to spoil. The Kremlin boss wants to continue to talk to the United States about strategic questions – that could influence his calculation.

But expectations are low everywhere. “I can hardly imagine that Selenskyj, Putin and others are at a table and talk about something at all, let alone agree,” said the former Ukrainian ambassador in Moscow, Wolodymyr Jeltschenko, the “Ukrajinska Prawda”.

“In order to say it clearly: Putin will not meet Selenskyj under the current circumstances,” also wrote the Russian politician Tatjana Stanowaja, who lives in exile in the network X. “He has said several times that such a meeting is only possible when the right basis is laid, which in practice means that Selenskyj Russia’s conditions for an end of the war accepts.”

Where could the next top meetings take place?

With the uncertain view of an encounter between Putin and Selenskyj, the choice of location is also difficult. Switzerland would be ready, Moscow rejects the Vatican. Rather, Russia and Ukraine would probably meet like recently in Turkey or Saudi Arabia.

After a first conversation between Putin and Selenskyj, Trump is also ready for a quick meeting for three. For this purpose, his Secret Service should already prepare in the Hungarian capital Budapest, as the “Politico” website reported. This is not confirmed. Because Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán blocks the rapprochement of Ukraine to the EU, Budapest for Selenskyj should not be a neutral place.