Donald Trump said he could meet with Vladimir Putin “very soon,” following what the US president described as highly productive talks in Moscow between his special envoy and the Russian leader. The potential summit was discussed in a call between Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky that, according to a senior source in Kyiv, included NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the leaders of Britain, Germany and Finland.
“There’s a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon,” Trump told reporters Wednesday at the White House, when asked when he would meet the Ukrainian and Russian leaders. He gave no indication where the meeting with Putin might take place. It would be the first US-Russia leadership summit since former President Joe Biden met with his counterpart in Geneva in June 2021.
The New York Times and CNN, citing people familiar with the plan, said Trump plans to sit down with Putin as early as next week, and then wants a three-way meeting with the Russian leader and Zelensky. “It seems that Russia is now more inclined to agree to a ceasefire; the pressure on them is working. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us or the United States in the details,” Zelensky said on Wednesday evening.
Trump’s phone call with Zelensky came after US envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian leadership in Moscow earlier in the day for talks described by the Kremlin as “productive” — with Trump’s deadline looming to impose fresh sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine. “Great progress was made!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that afterward he had briefed some European allies.
“Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come,” he said.
