Trump working to coordinate meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy

United News of India

2 days ago

Washington, Aug 19 (UNI) US President Donald Trump is working to coordinate a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which would be the first face-to-face interaction between the two leaders since the Ukraine conflict began more than three years ago.
Asked about arranging the meeting on Tuesday, Trump said on Fox & Friends that he would let Putin and Zelenskyy meet first before getting involved himself, saying "they haven't been exactly best friends", CBS reported.
"I hope President Putin is going to be good, and if he's not, that's going to be a rough situation," Trump said.
He noted that he's hopeful Zelenskyy will "do what he has to do," saying he has to "show some flexibility also."
Budapest, Hungary, is among the locations being considered for possible meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, a source with knowledge of the planning told CBS News. Hungary has "expressed its openness and willingness to host the talks," as have a handful of other countries, the source said.
The White House hopes to settle on a date and location for the meeting by the end of this week. German Chancellor Merz said Monday that the goal is for the meeting to take place within the next two weeks.
Trump's efforts come one day after an extraordinary series of meetings at the White House between the U.S. president, Zelenskyy and European leaders. In a display of unity, Zelenskyy and the European leaders stressed the importance of security guarantees in a peace deal, which Trump said could come with U.S. coordination.
After Monday's meetings, Trump said he placed a call to Putin to set up the meeting, and he "picked it up very happily," despite the late hour in Russia. Trump called it a "very good call".
"I told him that we're going to set up a meeting with President Zelenskyy, and you and he will meet, and then after that meeting, if everything works out OK, I'll meet and we'll wrap it up," Trump said.
He added that it takes "two to tango," and that "they have to have somewhat of a relationship, otherwise, we're just wasting a lot of time."
It is still unclear whether the bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy would be immediately followed by trilateral talks in the same location, or if the US President would make arrangements to participate in trilateral talks in a different city on another date after Putin and Zelenskyy have met.
Zelenskyy told CBS News shortly after leaving the White House that a date had not been set to meet with Putin.
In a post on X Tuesday, Zelenskyy called the talks in Washington "truly a significant step toward ending the war and ensuring the security of Ukraine and our people."
"We are already working on the concrete content of the security guarantees," Zelenskyy said. "Today, we continue coordination at the level of leaders. There will be discussions, and we are preparing the relevant formats."
At the White House press briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Putin and Zelenskyy have "expressed a willingness to sit down with each other," and that "accommodations for that meeting are underway."
Meanwhile, security guarantees for Ukraine emerged as a key issue during Monday's meetings, with Zelenskyy calling them a "starting point towards ending the war."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that the U.S. will work with European and other allies to provide security guarantees for Ukraine after the war, although he did not provide specifics. And Macron said discussions on what the U.S. is willing to provide could begin as soon as Tuesday.
Leavitt outlined Mr. Trump's position Tuesday afternoon, saying "the president has definitely stated U.S. boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees to our European allies."
UNI RN