As you know, Zelenskyy is apoplectic because Trump is meeting with Putin in Saudi Arabia to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Now he’s stupid. I have been in many mediations and it is a common tactic of mediators, as a couple of you know, is to meet with the parties separately. Now normally the parties would appear before the mediator together and then when an agreement couldn’t be reached they meet with the parties separately to find out what they might be okay with and what’s a nonstarter and how they might be able to reach a compromise.
Now in this case a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy would be unproductive. Zelenskyy would be a loose cannon, and probably make a resolution much more difficult. So Trump is doing the right thing.
He can find out what is Putin’s redline and then what is Zelenskyy’s redline nonnegotiable issues and press them both to compromise with pressure for what the US might contribute to mix in terms of enforcement. That’s how it works!