Aug. 13—Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov expressed hope that the upcoming meeting between the Presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, will give an impetus to normalization of bilateral relations, TASS reported yesterday. “We hope that the forthcoming top-level meeting will give an impetus to normalization of bilateral relations, allowing [them] to facilitate resolution of certain issues,” he said in an interview with the Izvestia daily, speaking about resumption of direct air service. “Although, obviously, the leaders will focus on other subjects,” he added.

Trump, meanwhile, was reportedly dismissive of NATO's Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose demands to be included in the summit were refused by Trump. “I get along with Zelenskyy, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done. Very, very severely disagree. This is a war that should have never happened,” Trump said, reported The Hill.

The Hill notes that Trump has said the meeting will touch on some territorial swapping for “the betterment of both” countries, a proposal Zelenskyy rejected on Saturday, Aug. 9. “Of course, we will not give Russia any awards for what it has done. The Ukrainian people deserve peace,” he said, adding that “all partners” must understand peace and that “Ukrainians will not give their land to an occupier.”

Trump said he was perturbed by the Ukrainian leader’s resistance. “I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskyy was saying, ‘Well, I have to get constitutional approval.’ I mean, he’s got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap—because there’ll be some land swapping going on,” Trump said. He added that the land swap will be “for the good of Ukraine,” before adding that a possible deal will also involve “some bad stuff for both” Kyiv and Moscow. 

In a recent poll of Ukrainians, Gallup found that 69% believe that Ukraine should seek negotiations to end the war as soon as possible, with only 24% saying that Ukraine should keep fighting until it wins the war. This is a dramatic change even from 2024, when 52% supported peace talks and 38% preferred to continue the fighting. Sources report that Gallup also asked Ukrainians if they believed that they could win the war. They did not publish the results of that question that showed over 90% believed that such a victory was impossible.