Russian president Vladimir Putin and US president Donald Trump could meet next week to discuss the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Thursday, as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy insisted that Europe must be part of any peace process.
Mr Trump said on Thursday his Russian counterpart does not have to agree to meet with Mr Zelenskiy in order to have a meeting with him.
Mr Zelenskiy had urged Mr Putin to match his own “brave approach” and agree to meet face to face. But the Russian president said any such talks were still “a long way off” amid concerns in Ukraine that he wants to strike a bargain with Mr Trump and then have the White House present it as a done deal to Kyiv and European capitals.
“An agreement was co-ordinated in principle to hold a bilateral summit in the coming days,” senior Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said of US envoy Steve Witkoff’s talks in Moscow on Wednesday. “The option of holding a meeting next week has been considered, and we are quite positive about this option.”
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Mr Putin said the United Arab Emirates was a possible venue for the summit, as he hosted its president, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Moscow.
Mr Trump said there was “a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon”, in advance of a deadline that he set for Friday for Moscow to agree a ceasefire with Ukraine, or face the imposition of “severe” US tariffs on imports from Russia and from countries that buy Russian oil. He hiked tariffs on India’s goods to 50 per cent on Wednesday due to its role – alongside China and Turkey – as a top importer of cheap Russian fuel.
Mr Trump briefed Mr Zelenskiy about plans for talks with Russia, and the Ukrainian leader said there had been discussion of a possible trilateral meeting involving them and Mr Putin.
“Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side. It is time we ended the war,” said Mr Zelenskiy on Thursday.
Mr Putin downplayed prospects for talks with the Ukrainian leader, however.
“I have already said many times that I have nothing against it in general,” he said. “But for this to happen, certain conditions must be created. Unfortunately, such conditions are still a long way off.”
The Kremlin has said that Mr Putin will only meet Mr Zelenskiy once Kyiv has accepted Moscow’s key demands: permanent occupation of five regions of Ukraine and agreement that it will never join Nato and will accept limitations on its military and other restrictions on its sovereignty. Kyiv says such a deal would amount to capitulation.
The Kremlin wants direct talks with Washington to resolve the war in Ukraine as part of a much broader agreement on international security and a Russia-US rapprochement that officials in both countries say could be very lucrative.
Russia routinely lauds what it calls Mr Trump’s efforts to repair bilateral relations and end the war in Ukraine, while accusing Kyiv and European states of blocking progress, in an apparent attempt to stoke simmering tension between the US and its erstwhile allies.
“The war is happening in Europe and Ukraine is an integral part of Europe; we are already in negotiations on European Union accession. Therefore, Europe must be a participant in the relevant processes,” said Mr Zelenskiy after talking to German chancellor Friedrich Merz.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she spoke to Mr Zelenskiy on Thursday about “the next steps on the way towards a negotiated peace agreement and Ukraine’s future membership in the European Union as well as its reconstruction.
“Europe’s position is clear. We fully support Ukraine. We will continue to play an active role to guarantee a just and lasting peace.”
