Volodymyr Zelensky asked Donald Trump on Tuesday to bring him and Vladimir Putin together in one meeting to end the war. He said it at his New York press conference after 40 minutes with Trump at the United Nations. "The most important move President Trump can make – he can organize a trilateral meeting where the leaders can raise all the sensitive issues and try to end the war," he said. On meeting Putin himself: "I'm ready any time. I think that we all need to move as quick as possible."
Putin said no. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday that Putin would meet Trump one-on-one if both men judged it necessary. Peskov said in August that the three men can meet only to sign what has already been agreed. The two sides have agreed nothing, and Peskov admitted as much on Wednesday: "no prerequisites" for peace talks, in his words.
Russia then showed what it does have prerequisites for. At about 9 a.m. Kyiv time, Russian forces sent 161 drones at Ukraine, 82 of them jet-powered, and hit the capital for more than two hours. They killed two people and injured 25, 17 of them badly enough for hospital. They hit rail lines, two fuel stations and a business center with no military site near it.
Zelensky asked for a meeting and Putin sent drones. What Putin wants from Trump instead, and why he thinks he can get it now, comes down to one number.
