Trump intends to meet with Putin next week
The report comes just hours after Trump praised a meeting between Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff, calling it 'highly productive.' According to the US president, 'great progress' was achieved during the nearly three-hour exchange, and the sides agreed to work on ending the Ukraine conflict 'in the days and weeks to come.' He did not reveal any further details.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump also said he had updated some of America's European allies on the results of the meeting in Moscow. According to the NYT, Trump announced his plans in a phone call that included UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, US Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Witkoff.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky was reportedly on the phone call as well. The newspaper added that Trump announced plans to hold trilateral talks with both Putin and Zelensky shortly after meeting with the Russian president one-on-one.
No Western European leaders are expected to attend the planned meetings, the media outlet claimed, adding that those on the phone call accepted Trump's plan.
Commenting on the report to journalists, the White House confirmed that Trump is open to meeting with both Putin and Zelensky. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that 'the Russians expressed their desire to meet' with the US president.
Zelensky has confirmed that he had a 'conversation with President Trump' and stated that he wants to see the conflict with Russia come to an end.
Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that a meeting between Trump and Putin was not on the agenda. On Wednesday morning, he told journalists that normalizing relations between the US and Russia to the extent necessary for the two presidents to meet will take time due to the 'unprecedented number' of mutual irritants.
Moscow has said it is open to a peace deal provided the realities on the ground are taken into account and the root causes of the Ukraine conflict are resolved during peace talks.
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