Putin and Zelensky: The Road to Peace is Full of Potholes

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has put up new hurdles for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He said that Russia has a list of demands that must be met before any summit can happen. These demands include Ukraine not joining NATO, discussing territory changes, and Zelensky canceling laws that ban the Russian language. Lavrov made these comments on NBC's "Meet the Press, " saying that there is no planned meeting right now. He also said that the list of demands is not even ready yet. This is not the first time Russia has put up roadblocks to peace talks. They have been doing this for a while, even as U. S. President Donald Trump tries to get a meeting together. Trump has been working hard to end the war in Ukraine, which has been going on for over two and a half years. He met with Putin in Alaska and then with European leaders and Zelensky at the White House. But Russia says that Trump did not bring their demands to the table properly. They also said that Zelensky rejected all of their demands. Ukraine wants to join NATO for protection, but Russia does not want this to happen. Trump has said that NATO membership is not an option, but his peace envoy Steve Witkoff said that Russia agreed to let Ukraine have security agreements with Western countries. However, Russia has denied this and said that they should have a say in any agreements Ukraine makes with the West. Zelensky has said that he wants to meet with Putin one-on-one, and Trump is hopeful that this will happen. But Trump has also threatened to impose sanctions on Russia if they continue to attack Ukraine. He said that he will make a decision soon on what to do.