Russian media and Moscow residents reacted to the recent flurry of diplomacy regarding Ukraine on Tuesday, a day after U.S President Donald Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington D.C.

Some residents in Moscow continue to be skeptical about the efficacy of such dialogue.

Yuriy Evgrafov, Moscow resident, said that he did not believe changes would happen, and criticised Zelenskyy.

"Until he is removed, nothing will get better," he said,

Denis Yashin, Moscow resident, said he did not believe that a meeting between Ukraine and Russia would take place until there was some agreement about the exchange of territories.

"As soon as there is agreement between the parties, then everything will happen very quickly, and we will be happy," he added.

Zelenskyy and European leaders said that Putin has demanded that Ukraine give up the Donbas, an industrial region in eastern Ukraine that has seen some of the most intense fighting but that Russian forces have failed to capture completely.

Moscow's forces also hold Crimea as well as parts of six other regions — all adding up to about one-fifth of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy has long noted the Ukrainian Constitution prohibits breaking up his country. He has also suggested the demand for territory would serve as a springboard for future invasion.

Rutte said the possibility of Ukraine ceding occupied territory to Russia in return for peace wasn’t discussed in Monday’s talks. That is an issue for Zelenskyy and Putin to consider together, he said to Fox News.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly suggested sitting down with Putin, even challenging the Russian leader to meet him as part of direct peace talks between the two sides in Turkey in May. Putin snubbed that offer, saying that significant progress on an agreement would have to be made before the pair met in person.

On Monday, Trump appeared to back Zelenskyy's plan. “I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” Trump said in a social media post.

He said he would join the two leaders afterward.

But when discussing a phone call held after the meeting between Trump and the Russian leader, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov gave no indication that either a bilateral or a trilateral meeting with Ukraine had been agreed.

European leaders know that Putin doesn't want to meet Zelenskyy and that he won't allow Western troops in Ukraine — but they're expressing optimism that these things could happen in the hopes of forcing Putin to be the one to say no, according to Janis Kluge of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.