NEW YORK, August 21. /TASS/. A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky may assist in overcoming the stalled situation with peacefully settling the Ukraine crisis, US Vice President JD Vance said.

"I think, the president's preference and my preference would be, let's have them meet regardless, you don't have to figure out every issue, and sometimes leaders sitting down face to face can break the logjam that their teams don't necessarily have the ability to do," he said in an interview with the Fox News TV channel.

As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference earlier, Moscow does not exclude any formats of working on the Ukrainian settlement, adding that any interaction involving top figures must be extremely thoroughly planned.

US President Donald Trump held a meeting with Zelensky and several European leaders on resolving the Ukraine conflict in the White House on August 18. The talks involved Finnish President Alexander Stubb, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

The White House hosted such a large number of top leaders simultaneously for the first time in history. This unprecedented lineup of participants, which underscores the importance of the issue under discussion, was also highlighted by the US president.

In addition, Trump held a phone call with Putin during the meeting. According to the US leader, they discussed, among other things, the prospects for a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, followed by trilateral talks. Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov said that the leaders of Russia and the United States spoke in favor of continuing direct talks between Moscow and Kiev, including the possibility of elevating their level.