Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump says he will meet Putin even if Kremlin leader won’t meet Zelensky
US leader Donald Trump says he will meet the Russian president even if Vladimir Putin refuses to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mr Trump, when asked whether Putin would need to meet Mr Zelensky to secure a meeting with the US, said: “No, he doesn’t. No.”
Mr Putin has said he hopes to meet Donald Trump next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates.
Earlier, a Kremlin aide confirmed the pair would discuss a ceasefire in the Ukraine war.
Despite Mr Trump suggesting there was “a good chance” of a summit involving Mr Zelensky, Mr Ushakov said that a trilateral meeting “was for some reason mentioned by Washington” but had not been discussed with the Kremlin.
The venue for the meeting has been decided and is due to be announced later, he added.
A face-to-face meeting would be the first between a sitting US and Russian president since Joe Biden met Mr Putin in Geneva in June 2021, eight months before Russia launched the biggest attack on a European nation since the Second World War.
