Journalists from the outlet asked whether President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was considering a phone call with the Kremlin, as Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre did on Oct. 27.
Lytvyn responded that "this is not the first time the Russians have talked about either a phone call or telling Zelenskyy to 'come to Moscow' to avoid the need for a trilateral meeting at the leaders' level."
He stressed that key issues must be discussed directly by the leaders of the countries involved.
"But it must be an actual meeting, with the necessary discussions, agreements and guarantees, which are obviously difficult to achieve through a phone call alone," Dmytro Lytvyn explained.
On Oct. 30, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Vladimir Putin was ready to hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. However, Peskov avoided giving a direct answer when asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In an interview with Alla Mazur published on Oct. 25, Zelenskyy said territorial issues were a "red line" for Ukraine that could only be discussed at the leaders' level. Other issues, he said, could be addressed by technical working groups.
On Oct. 23, Zelenskyy said a trilateral meeting between negotiating teams from Ukraine, the United States and Russia aimed at ending the war was planned for the first half of November.