**Ongoing diplomatic efforts have not produced conditions for a direct Putin-Zelenskyy encounter.** Russia continues to condition any leader-level meeting on prior agreement on core issues, including territorial control in eastern Ukraine, and has rejected proposals for talks in a neutral venue. In September 2026, Putin dismissed Zelenskyy’s offer to meet at the G20 summit in Miami, with Kremlin statements reiterating that any summit would need to occur in Moscow only after substantive progress. US-mediated trilateral discussions involving envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner advanced in early September, with possible resumption in October, but these focus on de-escalation steps rather than an immediate bilateral handshake. The territorial dispute remains the primary barrier, and no scheduled events in the near term have altered the low likelihood of the two leaders meeting face-to-face without major shifts in negotiating positions.