Zelensky: Ready to Meet Putin at G20 Summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared his full readiness to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the upcoming G20 summit, scheduled for December in Miami, USA. In a statement to the German broadcaster "Deutsche Welle," in response to a question about a potential meeting with Putin if both presidents receive an invitation to attend the summit, Zelensky affirmed: "Yes, of course. We must attend. We must meet, talk, and make decisions." He added, clarifying: "It's not about words. What I will say to him or what he wants to say to me, it doesn't matter. Only the result matters." These statements come as Washington intensifies its diplomatic efforts to break the deadlock in talks aimed at ending the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, now in its fifth year. In this context, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited both Moscow and Kyiv last weekend, as part of US endeavors to resume dialogue between the two sides. Zelensky described this visit as a "good sign," emphasizing the importance of their visits to both capitals and considering it "respect for our people." In a related development, the war's progress was the focus of a previous hour-long phone call between Putin and former US President Donald Trump, which the Kremlin then described as "very frank" and "constructive." The United States currently holds the presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20), which comprises 19 countries in addition to the European and African Unions. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov previously participated in a group meeting in North Carolina in early September, at Washington's invitation, a move that drew reservations from Ukraine's European allies. A Russian diplomat also announced that Moscow intends to send officials from the Ministries of Energy, Foreign Affairs, and Natural Resources to participate in the G20 energy ministers' meeting, scheduled for next week in Houston, Texas.