Meeting with attorney without specific meeting format not at level of president - Zelensky on Giuliani
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he could not meet with Rudolph Giuliani, personal attorney of U.S. President Donald Trump, in the proposed format.
"I have already said that Mr. Giuliani once took offense that Ukrainian officials did not meet with him here, in Kyiv. Firstly, a meeting with an attorney is not at the level of the president of Ukraine, despite his experience and influence on the White House," Zelensky said during a press marathon in Kyiv on Thursday.
He said he had learned about Giuliani's arrival and departure from Kyiv from press reports.
"I have a format for meetings. They contact the Foreign Ministry and meetings are organized at the level of diplomats not only with the leaders of states, with ambassadors, foreign ministers, businessmen, lawyers, but there is a certain path to this meeting. Therefore, I said I don't do meetings in that format," he said.
Zelensky said that if the meeting between his aide Andriy Yermak and Guiliani was devoted to the organization of Zelensky's visit to the White House, he does not see anything bad in this.
Zelensky said he does not know many details of this meeting.