"How can we meet with a person who is pretending to be a leader?" Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told NBC News on Aug. 22.

Vladimir Putin has reportedly said he is ready to meet Zelesnky provided all issues relating to the settlement of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev are thoroughly worked out

Doing so would require the Russian leader to “accept the failure of sitting down with a president he considers a joke from a country that doesn’t exist”

Russia has so far refused to agree to a face-to-face meeting between Zelensky and Putin, despite several requests from Kyiv. The Kremlin hasn't ruled out summits for the two leaders but has said they could only meet in the very final stages of clinching a peace agreement.

The Kremlin is keeping its options open, but analysts said the Russian leader would probably only meet with his Ukrainian counterpart to accept a capitulation.

Trump said that his decision relies on developments over the coming fortnight and advocated for talks between Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine' Volodymyr Zelensky.

Analysts weighed in on what concessions Zelensky may consider making to end the war and what's likely to be off the table.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will brief the media around 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday after two huge diplomatic meetings between Trump and Putin on Friday and Trump, Zelensky, and EU leaders on Monday.