Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been sidelined from peace talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday because the Russian leader was the one who made the invitation to meet, according to the White House.
"The president is accepting this meeting, at the request of President Putin," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. "And the purpose of this meeting for the president is to leave with a better understanding of how we can end this war."
"I think that the president of the United States entering the room with the president of Russia, sitting face to face instead of talking on the phone, will give this president the best indication of how to end this war and where this is going," Leavitt said.
Meanwhile, Zelensky has remained adamant that any decision to end the war made without Ukraine will be futile.
"Every decision made against us, every decision made without Ukraine - they are simultaneously decisions against peace," Zelensky said in a statement on Saturday. "These are dead decisions; they will never work. And what we all need is a real and living peace, a peace that people will respect."
Trump told reporters on Monday that he predicted he would know within minutes whether Putin was serious about reaching an agreement or not. He also acknowledged that Russia and Ukraine would have to face some "territory swap" issues as part of an agreement.