United States president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin are set to meet in the coming days
The meeting comes ahead of the deadline set by Trump which imposes sanctions on Russia
United States president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin are set to meet in the coming days, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Thursday, reported Reuters. The visit marks the first summit between leaders of both countries since 2021.
The statement comes after Trump asserted that there was a "good chance" he could meet the Russian and Ukrainian leaders together in person to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
"At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement was essentially reached to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days, that is, a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump," Ushakov said. "We are now beginning concrete preparations together with our American colleagues," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
The meeting comes ahead of the deadline set by Trump which imposes sanctions on Russia if it does not agree to a ceasefire. The deadline is set to expire on Friday.
Russian news agencies reported that the place for the meeting had been decided and further details will be shared later. Ushakov claimed that Trump’s Steve Witkoff had floated the proposal of a three-way meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zeelenskyy during a meeting on Wednesday. "We propose, first of all, to focus on preparing for a bilateral meeting with Trump and we believe that the main thing is for this meeting to be successful and productive," he said.
The Ukrainian president has been calling for Russia to negotiate a ceasefire and indicated his inclination towards a three-way meet. "We in Ukraine have repeatedly said that finding real solutions can be truly effective at the level of leaders," he wrote on X. He added that it's "necessary to determine the timing and the range of issues to be addressed."
