Russia would continue war during negotiations with Ukraine, Lavrov says

Lavrov made the remarks to Interfax on Sept. 12.

Commenting on Zelenskyy’s proposal to meet Putin in the United States, Lavrov said an invitation to Moscow had already been extended and that if the Ukrainian president wants to meet, he should come.

Lavrov portrayed the invitation as a “huge gesture of goodwill” by Russia, arguing that Zelenskyy has still not rescinded a decree banning contacts with Putin and his team, while portraying the Kremlin as willing to show goodwill.

The possibility of a meeting between the presidents also came up in other Kremlin comments that day. Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was ready to receive Zelenskyy in the capital if he was genuinely prepared to negotiate with the Russian president.

Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin’s participation in the G20 summit was not currently being discussed.

Prospects for a Zelenskyy-Putin meeting

The Group of 20 leaders’ summit in Miami is scheduled for Dec. 14–15, 2026. It remains unclear whether Russia will participate. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sept. 2 that he had not yet decided whether to invite Putin to the G20 summit, which Putin has not attended since 2019. The same day, Trump said Putin would agree to meet with him again, but said he wanted such a meeting only “when a peace deal is reached.”

Zelenskyy has repeatedly expressed readiness for a face-to-face meeting with Putin, while the Kremlin has rejected talks at the leaders’ level and said a meeting with Zelenskyy could take place only in Moscow.

On Aug. 24, Zelenskyy said Kyiv, together with Trump’s representatives and European officials, had developed a new joint plan to end the war that calls for a ceasefire, mutual troop withdrawals from the front line and the creation of a buffer zone. The next day, it emerged that CIA Director John Ratcliffe had secretly arrived in Moscow. The Wall Street Journal reported that he may have brought Putin a warning amid intelligence that Russia was preparing a mobilization and could test NATO’s resolve.

On Aug. 31, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with Russia’s finance minister on the sidelines of the G20 summit to discuss Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine.