Kremlin denies Putin agreed to trilateral meeting with Trump and Zelenskyy
Putin met on Wednesday with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff in the Kremlin, and reports from Washington suggested he had agreed to meet first with Trump and then in a trilateral format, as part of US efforts to bring about the end of the war in Ukraine.
On Thursday morning, however, the Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said the Russian president had not agreed to this. 'We propose focusing on preparations for a bilateral meeting with Trump in the first place … As for a three-way meeting, which for some reason Washington was talking about yesterday, this was just something mentioned by the American side during the meeting in the Kremlin.
'But this was not discussed. The Russian side left this option completely without comment,' Ushakov told journalists in Moscow.
The prospect of Putin and Trump trying to come to an agreement on Ukraine with no one else in the room is likely to alarm Kyiv and European capitals.
Zelenskyy on Thursday was careful not to criticise Trump but said he would spend the day in consultation with European allies, including the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz. 'The priorities are absolutely clear. The first is to stop the killings, and it is Russia that must agree to a ceasefire. The second is a format for leaders so that the meeting can work for a truly lasting peace,' Zelenskyy wrote in a Telegram post.
He added: 'We in Ukraine have repeatedly said that the search for real solutions can become truly effective only at the level of leaders. We need to decide on the time for such a format, with a range of issues.'
Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for direct discussions with Putin, with either Trump or the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as a mediator, but Putin has so far dismissed the possibility, suggesting that lower-level negotiation groups should come to an agreement first. But little progress has been made at a series of direct talks in Turkey, with Moscow sending a junior delegation and not appearing ready for real talks.
In recent weeks, Trump had appeared to take a tougher line with Moscow for the first time in his presidency, calling continued Russian attacks against civilian targets in Ukraine 'disgusting' and promising the introduction of new sanctions if progress towards a deal was not made by a deadline of this Friday.
White House officials have said sanctions are still expected and on Wednesday additional tariffs were announced for India, based on the country's purchasing of Russian oil, but at the same time Trump seemed satisfied with the outcome of Witkoff's talks.
Ushakov said the discussions had been 'businesslike' and claimed they focused on a bright future of cooperation between Washington and Moscow. 'It was reaffirmed that Russian-US relations could be based on a completely different, mutually advantageous scenario, which drastically differs from how they developed in recent years,' he said.
It is not clear where a Trump-Putin summit might take place but the most likely options are Turkey or the Middle East. Ushakov said a location had already been decided but declined to name it.
Trump said on Wednesday evening that the meeting could happen 'very soon'. Some others in Washington seemed less sure. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said a meeting could take place soon, 'but obviously a lot has to happen before that can occur'.
If it goes ahead, it would be the first US-Russia leaders' summit since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in 2021.
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