Zelensky Says ‘It’s Time To End The War’ – But Won’t Identify Any Concessions

Given the rapid movement on a Trump-Putin face to face meeting, to be held within the ‘coming days’ – according to both sides, Volodymyr Zelensky is speaking up, and seeking to ensure Ukraine’s position isn’t sidelined.

Apparently Washington during Steve Witkoff’s visit to Moscow Wednesday pushed the idea of a trilateral meeting involving Trump mediating between Zelensky and Putin, but this has been firmly rejected by Moscow. Instead Russia is taking the reputational and diplomatic ‘win’ of a bilateral Trump-Putin meeting, which would be a huge first of the war and a first of Trump’s second term in office.

Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/AFP

Russia’s Putin stipulated Thursday that “conditions” for a potential future meeting with Zelensky had not been met.

“I have nothing against it in general, it is possible, but certain conditions must be created for this. But unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions,” Putin told reporters.

These conditions without doubt center on territorial concessions, and things like sovereignty on Crimea. Additionally, Russia’s position is that Zelensky is in power illegally, long past his mandate after canceling elections.

Putin’s remarks on a Zelensky meeting were in response to the Ukrainian leader saying he’s open to such a sit-down.

In a Thursday Telegram post, Zelensky said he had spoken with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to discuss ending the conflict in what he called “a dignified peace” that would “determine the security conditions for Europe for decades.”

“Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same bold approach from the Russian side. It is time to end the war,” he said, using words which Trump has also repeatedly proclaimed.

Putin earlier this summer made clear he’s willing to meet Zelensky, but only during a “final phase” of negotiations.

This would necessitate that the terms for ending the war would already be outlined and on the table, and tentatively agreed to and drawn up in their details.

Putin has in effect indicated that he would only show up to sign on to Zelensky and Ukraine’s surrender. But as it stands, Kiev is still unwilling to make territorical concessions or compromises, and won’t even take to more obvious first step of at least offering to relinquish Crimea.

Putin says conditions are far from a meeting with Zelensky. If he gets a summit with Trump without Zelensky, and without a Ukraine ceasefire deal — that’s a Kremlin dream come true. They will be ordering tacos by the bucket.

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) August 7, 2025

The last six months, and especially the devastation wrought by drone and missile fire on both sides’ territory, has caused positions to harden – despite the immense and tragic manpower losses. Ukraine is also wholly reliant on continued Western support, despite a general war weariness having long ago set in among the European and American publics.