Vladimir Putin would answer a direct phone call from Volodymyr Zelensky if Kyiv initiated it, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said on Sunday, Nov. 1. Ushakov said Putin has never refused direct bilateral communication with foreign heads of state and added: “I think he would answer, of course.”
The remark matters now because Zelensky has been pressing for direct leader-level talks that could break the diplomatic deadlock. Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv is ready for that format and that “likely, only a meeting between Zelensky and Putin can impart new meaning to the negotiations,” with the territorial question among the most difficult issues on the table. If a call or meeting happens, the first question is not whether the two sides have something to say. It is whether either side is ready to say it directly.
Zelensky, speaking in Istanbul on Saturday after consultations with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Kyiv was actively preparing for the tripartite format and had discussed options that could involve Turkey and European partners. He said Turkey, Abu Dhabi and Switzerland were being considered as possible host venues. Erdogan welcomed the renewed diplomatic momentum, a sign that the diplomatic track is moving even if it remains narrow and uncertain.
That is where Ushakov’s comments carry their own limit. He said Moscow would be prepared to resume tripartite talks after Nov. 4 National Unity Day, and he described the upcoming session as exploratory. In other words, the door is not shut, but it is not open in any decisive way either. The Kremlin is signaling flexibility while keeping the pace on its own terms, and that leaves Kyiv waiting to see whether a direct line to Putin exists in practice, not just in principle.
The wider calendar suggests how guarded this moment remains. Ushakov has also said preparations were under way for a trilateral meeting involving Putin, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on the margins of the APEC summit in Shenzhen, China, scheduled for Nov. 18-19. For now, the clearest answer is that Putin would not refuse the call — but whether Kyiv has actually asked, and whether that call would move the war talks beyond exploration, remains the part that has not been answered.
