Putin-Zelensky meeting
At the recent disscutions in Washington with the Ukrainian president and european leaders, US president Donald Trump said he hope to organise the first US-Ukraine-Russia meeting as soon as possible after yesterday's meeting in Washington. Trump told journalists at the White House that he no longer considers the cessation of hostilities a necessary step for further peace talks with Russia. Trump also commented on possible US security guarantees for Ukraine, including the potential deployment of American troops, which he neither confirmed nor denied. For his part, Zelenskyy thanked Trump and European allies for the weapons that Ukraine is now receiving through a special NATO mechanism.
Previously, Trump said he had had a "good" meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders and that he is working on arranging talks between Putin and Zelenskyy and a trilateral meeting.
In the same day, Trump called Putin. The phone call took place as Zelenskyy and other European leaders had gathered at the White House. According to Politico, Vladimir Putin briefly suggested in a phone call with Donald Trump on Monday that he could host a potential one-on-one meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, even in Russia, according to officials familiar with the call.
A senior Trump administration official told Politico earlier that Putin had told Trump he wanted to meet Zelenskyy bilaterally.
According to European Pravda (Ukraine), Zelenskyy confirms preparations are underway for meeting with Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed that preparations are underway for his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, followed by a trilateral meeting involving US President Donald Trump.
Zelenskyy's briefing: "The President of the United States has supported a trilateral leaders' meeting between Ukraine, the US and Russia. The United States is proposing to hold it as soon as possible. But this requires the agreement of all parties. Russia proposed a bilateral meeting first and then a trilateral one. As I said, we are ready for any format at leader level, because only at leader level can we resolve all the complex and painful issues"…
Zelenskyy also said that Trump had contacted the Russian side and discussed potential diplomatic steps: "I confirmed, with all the European leaders in support, that we are ready for a bilateral meeting with Putin. After that, we expect a trilateral meeting. The main question is how the bilateral meeting will unfold".
