Zelenskyy: Russia is doing everything it can to prevent my meeting with Putin from taking place

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the occupiers are doing everything to prevent his meeting with the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. The head of state announced this during a press conference with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte in Kyiv, which broadcast Public.

"It is at the level of leaders that the issue of ending the war should be resolved. But we see now that the Russians are doing everything to prevent the meeting from happening. Ukraine, unlike Russia, is not afraid of any meetings with leaders. We are ready to work as productively as possible," Zelenskyy said.

According to him, Ukraine hopes that its partners will help ensure "at least a minimum productive position of the Russian side" through economic restrictions against Moscow.

"We need to force them to diplomacy. We need really strong sanctions if they do not agree to a diplomatic solution to this war, if they do not want to end the war. We are counting on strong [sanctions] packages from our partners," the head of state explained.

According to Ukraine, it is necessary to "do everything to prevent Russia from continuing to hide from the meeting," Zelenskyy said.

Earlier, the head of Kremlin diplomacy Sergey Lavrov said that Putin is allegedly ready for a summit with Zelenskyy, but only if "all issues that require discussion at the highest level are well worked out."

Later, in an interview with in an interview with NBC News, Lavrov claimed that the dictator was allegedly ready to meet with the Ukrainian president, but "when the agenda for the summit is ready." At the same time, the Russian foreign minister claimed that the agenda was "not ready at all."

• On August 20, the president Zelenskyy said that his possible meeting with Putin should be in a neutral country in Europe, noting that Ukraine agrees to hold the summit in Austria or Switzerland.
• The head of state believes that for a trilateral summit with US president Trump, it is necessary to have certain agreements and ceasefire following a previous meeting with the Russian dictator.