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”

President Trump said Tuesday that it would be “better” if Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met without him first as Trump pushes the leaders to bring an end to the more than three-year-long war in Eastern Europe.

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.