WASHINGTON – United States President Donald Trump said he has begun arranging a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after a day of discussions at the White House with Zelensky and several European leaders about Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The sit-down joined by nearly 10 European leaders – came three days after Trump met with Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, in what was described as a high stakes summit that ended with optimism but without a ceasefire deal.
On Monday, Zelensky, notably dressed in a black suit jacket, spoke to reporters in the Oval Office and said he would be willing to have a trilateral meeting with Trump and Putin about the war.
Zelensky was later joined at the White House by European leaders — including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte — who traveled to Washington, D.C., in a show of support for Ukraine.
Trump has been trying for months to secure an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. He framed the Alaska talks as the first step in reaching a “peace agreement” between Moscow and Kyiv.
In a statement, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov described today’s phone conversation between Trump and Putin as “frank and very constructive,” adding that the two leaders had agreed to appoint more senior negotiators for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine.
But Ushakov did not say whether Putin and Zelensky would talk directly to each other, which Trump has identified as the next step in the process.
Meanwhile, Russia continues to strike Ukraine. At least seven people, including a child, were killed in a Russian drone strike on an apartment complex in Kharkiv on Monday, Ukrainian officials said.
Note: Some information in this story was obtained from Yahoo news.
