**Trilateral meetings remain stalled at the technical level amid Russian reluctance.** U.S. President Donald Trump has held bilateral contacts with both Vladimir Putin (including a September 2026 phone call) and Volodymyr Zelensky (including a September UNGA meeting), while envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner shuttled between Moscow and Kyiv to advance proposals. Washington has pushed for trilateral technical talks by late October 2026, potentially in the UAE, and Zelensky has floated a possible leaders-level session on the margins of the December G20 in Miami. However, Moscow has shown little urgency, rejected certain formats as “impossible,” and offered no firm commitments on energy ceasefires or higher-level participation, with officials emphasizing that any summit would require prior bilateral progress. These dynamics—persistent territorial disagreements, mutual distrust between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, and the absence of scheduled three-way leaders’ engagement—underpin trader consensus that the three will not appear together before 2027.