00:00All right, let's bring in DW analyst Konstantin Eger.
00:03Hello, Konstantin.
00:03Lovely to see you.
00:05Zelensky is willing to meet Putin at Miami G20,
00:08but the Kremlin says, quote, it is impossible.
00:10Why does Blunt's refusal to meet at the summit?
00:14Well, Eddie, for the same reason that they refused it always,
00:20Putin does not want to meet Zelensky as an equal,
00:23and meeting at any international summit would be meeting the meeting of equals.
00:27It's not for nothing that he demands that Zelensky come to Moscow.
00:33That will be Zelensky coming, if you wish,
00:38as someone who will beg Putin for something.
00:42Putin will be the host, and Zelensky will be the guest.
00:47And for Zelensky, it's completely impossible, too.
00:50So essentially, that means that Putin wants to continue the war,
00:55as he does for the last nearly five years.
00:59And in this respect, Peskov told us nothing new.
01:03Right.
01:04Now, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, you just mentioned,
01:07indicated that there would be trilateral meetings between Russia,
01:12the US, and Ukraine soon.
01:14Not too sure exactly how soon.
01:16But what could we expect from that?
01:17I mean, of course, from what you just said,
01:19there's clearly no love lost between the two.
01:21And I'm just wondering, how does this tension can be reduced?
01:26I don't think it can be reduced.
01:29And I only think it's a very, very slim chance of having this meeting is if Donald Trump becomes very,
01:37very insistent.
01:38But even then, I do not believe that Putin is prepared to look Zelensky in the eye.
01:46I mean, this is something that will be very, very difficult for me to imagine.
01:52I do not think that even American pressure can bring this meeting.
01:57But if anything can bring it, it's the US pressure.
02:01Right.
02:01So, what does this say about where we are at?
02:06I mean, what could bring a meeting between the two together?
02:11What could drive talks that could finally lead to an end to the conflict?
02:19Well, if either side, but I would say mostly if Russia, or rather Putin himself, feels that he's in danger
02:28of either a massive military defeat or total economic collapse.
02:34And I mean total, not sort of temporary problems with the petrol or something like that.
02:40Only then, Putin will agree to a meeting.
02:45And even then, probably, it's going to be with some kind of mediation.
02:48Even then, Russia will impose conditions.
02:50But only in circumstances when Putin feels that it's either going down to hell, pardon my language, or a meeting.
02:59Only then.
03:00And so far, we haven't seen any change in the position of the Kremlin over the years.
03:06By now, it's very clear that the aim of the Russian regime is the destruction of Ukrainian states.
03:13If you have such a goal, why have a meeting with Zelensky or without mediation?
03:20Right.
03:21I mean, to what you're saying, there's an escalation of the conflict as we speak, right?
03:25I mean, what do you expect to happen in the next weeks ahead?
03:29Winter is coming.
03:32Yes, it's a very important point, Eddie.
03:36I do think that the Russians will increase their strikes against energy infrastructure.
03:41And energy infrastructure that supplies big cities like Kiev, Kharkiv, and Dnipro.
03:47I think that they will try also striking at an important transport junctions so as to try and limit the
04:01flow of goods, cargo, and people to Ukraine from Europe.
04:07I do think that they know that this winter can be a clincher for the Russian forces to impose defeat
04:18on Ukraine.
04:19And so I do think there's going to be not only more terror attacks against civilian targets, but I do
04:26think they are going to really try to crush Ukrainian infrastructure and really try to limit, if not cut completely.
04:32I don't think they can cut it completely, but really, really strike at transport outwards that connect Ukraine to Europe.
04:42Right.
04:43DW analyst Konstantin Egert, thank you very much.
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