The White House and the the Kremlin have both confirmed their intention for Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to meet. The summit could take place as soon as next week.
The alleged breakthrough in top-level diplomacy follows special envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit to Moscow this week, during which he oversaw discussions that the White House said “went well.”
Trump said Wednesday after the reports that he and his Russian counterpart had “very good talks” but did not provide a more specific timetable on a prospective meeting, only saying there was “a good chance” one would happen “very soon.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt likewise did not confirm a concrete date for a meeting, telling reporters earlier Wednesday that the “Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the president is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelensky.”
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov confirmed the meeting had been agreed to by the two leaders, and a location was decided on “in principle.”
“We propose, first of all, to focus on preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump, and we consider it most important that this meeting be successful and productive,” Ushakov said, on the eve of additional tariffs being levied on Russia.
Multiple sources familiar with the matter told the New York Times about the meeting the same day that Trump confirmed it during a call with European leaders.
The outlet reported that Trump informed the European leaders that his meeting with Putin would be followed by a trilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shortly after.
It is unclear to what extent Putin or Zelensky has accepted this proposal. Ushakov did not comment on Zelensky’s involvement.
Trump called Witkoff’s meeting “productive” in a Wednesday Truth Social post.
“My Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, just had a highly productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Trump wrote. “Great progress was made! Afterwards, I updated some of our European Allies. Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
WHITE HOUSE STILL EXPECTED TO ENFORCE ADDITIONAL SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA AFTER WITKOFF-PUTIN MEETING
Zelensky has maintained for months that he is prepared to meet with Putin any time and any place if it means negotiations will be conducted for peace.
Putin recently paid lip service to the idea of meeting with Trump and Zelensky, but the Russian leader has a long track record of dodging these proposals when the opportunity is presented.
