The Russian president's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, stated that the Kremlin currently has no information on the possible timing of the next round of trilateral talks in the Russia–US–Ukraine format. According to him, the Russian side has no plans or specific date for a new meeting of the delegations. The statement was made in response to a journalist's question linked to recent remarks by the head of the Ukrainian President's Office, Kyrylo Budanov, on the likelihood of a new meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian sides in September.
Kremlin position: no dates, no confirmations
As reported by RBC-Ukraine citing the Russian leader's press secretary, the Kremlin did not directly confirm the holding of another meeting in September and did not name a possible date for the next round. Thus, the Russian side publicly refrained from commenting on the timing and, in effect, did not take on any commitment to organize contacts during the specified period. This means that, at the official level, Moscow is not yet ready to synchronize its negotiation calendar with the expectations of Kyiv and Washington.
Context: what Kyiv is basing itself on
The trigger for the question to Peskov was a statement by the head of the Ukrainian President's Office, Kyrylo Budanov, who allowed for the possibility of a new meeting between representatives of Ukraine and Russia as early as September. It was precisely this assessment that prompted the Kremlin's reaction: the Ukrainian side, in effect, set a time benchmark, while the Russian side did not respond to it with a confirmation. The possibility of new contacts between Kyiv and Moscow remains a subject of discussion against the backdrop of the parties' attempts to define the further format of the negotiation process.
Contradictory data
There is a noticeable mismatch between the positions of the two capitals in their assessments of the timing. Kyiv, through Budanov's statement, publicly allows for the scenario of a new meeting of the delegations in September, thereby effectively building this month into the negotiation agenda. The Russian side, in the person of Peskov, conversely, states that it has no data on plans or specific timelines and does not confirm the September scenario. In other words, one side is operating with a probable window for contacts, while the other denies the existence of confirmed plans. The difference in versions is a discrepancy in the parties' public statements rather than in the facts themselves: neither side refutes the fact of previous contacts, but they diverge in their assessment of the next steps.
The diplomatic horizon according to Zelensky
A reminder of the broader temporal context is provided by a statement from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who believes that the most favorable period for a diplomatic resolution of the conflict could last from the G20 summit in the US in December to the end of summer 2027. According to him, this interval will be the most active phase for diplomacy, since afterwards preparations for the presidential elections in the US will begin, which, in Kyiv's assessment, will limit the window of opportunity for a breakthrough. This logic explains why both sides are interested in locking in at least one working round of contacts before the end of 2026.
Assessment of the format: a discussion of next steps
The situation fits into a broader context in which the format of trilateral contacts is already being criticized: open assessments (including in materials from the German service DW) contain judgments that the "Ukraine–US–Russia" format has, in essence, exhausted itself, while earlier in Abu Dhabi the first day of trilateral talks in the same format was held. Against this backdrop, the Kremlin's silence on the timing of the next round and the absence of a confirmed date make the near-term negotiation agenda uncertain: until official announcements appear from any of the sides, there is no basis to speak of a September meeting as a fait accompli.
