THE WASHINGTON POST: Kremlin announces Putin-Trump summit as Zelensky pushes to join

West Australian

14 hours ago

The Kremlin said Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will hold a summit meeting within the next few days. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he's ready to join the talks, too, as the US pushes to end Russia's invasion.
Russia and the US have agreed on a venue for the meeting between the two presidents, which will be disclosed later, and 'we are starting to work on specific issues,' with the aim of holding the talks next week, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters Thursday.
The announcement came a day after Mr Putin met with Mr Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff for nearly three hours of talks in the Kremlin.
Mr Trump has threatened to hit purchasers of Russian oil with secondary tariffs unless Putin agrees to a truce by Friday as the US pushes for a deal to end the war that's now in its fourth year.
After returning to the White House on a pledge to bring the war to a rapid end, Mr Trump has voiced growing frustration over Putin's refusal to accept a ceasefire following six phone calls between them since February. Mr Trump said Wednesday he didn't regard the latest developments as a 'breakthrough,' though the first summit meeting between the two leaders since 2018 would imply they've made progress on a resolution.
The worry for Mr Zelensky and his European allies is that Mr Putin may persuade M Trump to concede too much in reaching a settlement. They also have a multitude of doubts about how any agreement might be enforced and what security guarantees Ukraine will receive.
Mr Zelensky said he and European allies discussed 'various formats' of peace talks with Mr Trump during a call on Wednesday, including 'two bilateral and one trilateral' meeting between the three presidents. 'Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side,' he said in a post on social media.
Traders piled into assets that could benefit from a deal. Ukraine's dollar bonds were the best performers across emerging and frontier markets tracked by Bloomberg. European currencies also rallied.
Mr Putin told reporters the United Arab Emirates could be a suitable venue for the summit with Mr Trump, during Kremlin talks with UAE President Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Thursday. He reiterated that he didn't object to meeting Zelensky under the right conditions, though he said they don't exist now.
Russia didn't respond when Witkoff raised the prospect of a trilateral meeting involving Mr Putin, Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky, according to Ushakov. The Kremlin wants to focus first on talks between Mr Putin and Mr Trump, he said.
The White House hasn't commented on the proposed summit so far. Mr Trump told reporters Wednesday there was a 'very good chance' he would meet with Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky soon to try to broker peace between the two countries.
Mr Zelensky said he and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz 'coordinated our positions' during a phone call Thursday, and national security advisers from Ukraine, the US and Europe will hold an online meeting later to align positions.
'Ukraine and Germany share the view that the war must be ended as soon as possible with a dignified peace,' Mr Zelensky said. 'The parameters of ending this war will shape the security landscape of Europe for decades to come.'
Mr Trump was positive about the possibility of a ceasefire during his call with Mr Zelensky and European leaders, according to several people with knowledge of the discussion. He also suggested that Putin would be open to entering into peace talks in exchange for discussing land swaps, the people said.
Mr Putin has laid claim to Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, as well as the eastern and southern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson that his troops don't fully occupy.
Ukraine has said it's not prepared to cede any of its territory. It's demanding that Russia withdraws its troops and pay reparations for the devastation inflicted on the country since the February 2022 invasion.
The US had previously offered to recognise Crimea as Russian as part of any deal, and to effectively cede control of parts of other Ukrainian regions that Russia occupies. As part of those earlier proposals, control over areas of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson would be returned to Ukraine.
Mr Putin and Mr Witkoff also discussed Russia-US relations at their meeting and noted that they could be developed in 'a completely different, mutually beneficial scenario,' Ushakov said.
--With assistance from Greg Ritchie, Andras Gergely and Daryna Krasnolutska.
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