Ukraine: Trump and Putin may meet in the “coming days,” says the Kremlin
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Amid the US-led multilateral tariff war worldwide, Russia on Thursday said its President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump have agreed to meet in the “coming days,” to discuss the Ukraine issue.
A summit between the two leaders was set for the “coming days”, with the two sides already having agreed on the venue “in principle,” the Kremlin said, according to the media reports.
This summit would be the first between two sitting Presidents since the then US President Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021, and comes as Trump seeks to broker an end the ongoing Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
So far, at least three rounds of direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv have failed to yield any progress towards a ceasefire, with the two sides appearing far apart in their demands to end the more than three-year-long conflict.
On Wednesday, President Trump said he was likely to meet Putin face-to-face “very soon.”
“At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement has been reached in principle to hold a bilateral summit in the coming days,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying on Thursday by Russian state news agencies.
“We are now starting to work out the details together with our American colleagues,” he said.
The Kremlin said a venue had been agreed “in principle” but did not indicate where the summit could take place.
“Next week has been set as a target date,” Ushakov added.
Tens of thousands have been killed since Russia launched its military offensive on Ukraine, starting February 24, 2022. Russian bombardments have forced millions to flee their homes and destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine. According to the media reports, Russia now controls over 40 percent of what was Ukraine’s territory until invasion.
President Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Ukraine for a ceasefire.
During preliminary talks in Istanbul, Turkey, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands if Ukraine wants Russia to halt its advance — calling for Kyiv to withdraw from territory it still controls, renounce Western military support, and scrap attempts for a NATO membership.
Russia also repeatedly sought to cast doubt on Zelenskyy’s legitimacy and ruled out a meeting between the two leaders until after the two sides agreed to the terms of a peace deal.
The announcement of the likely Trump-Putin summit came a day after special US envoy Steve Witkoff met the Russian President in Moscow.
Witkoff proposed a trilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but Russia did not respond to that proposal, Ushakov said.
“The Russian side left this option completely without comment,” he added.
Zelenskyy earlier Thursday refreshed his call for a meeting with Putin — which he says is the only way to make progress towards peace.
“We in Ukraine have repeatedly said that finding real solutions can be truly effective at the level of leaders,” he wrote on social media.
“It is necessary to determine the timing for such a format and the range of issues to be addressed,” he added.
The Ukrainian leader said on Thursday morning that he had planned to hold “several” conversations throughout the day, including with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as well as French and Italian officials.
“There will also be communication at the level of national security advisors,” Zelenskyy added.
“The main thing is for Russia, which started this war, to take real steps to end its aggression,” he added.
