Trump-Putin meeting agreed for ‘coming days’, venue set: Kremlin

(AFP): The Kremlin said on Thursday that a summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was set for the “coming days”, with the two sides already having agreed the venue “in principle”.

The summit would be the first between sitting United States and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021, and comes as Trump seeks to broker an end to Russia’s military assault on Ukraine.

Three rounds of direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv have failed to yield any progress towards a ceasefire, with the two sides appearing far apart in their demands to end the more than three-year-long conflict.

Trump said on Wednesday he was likely to meet Putin face-to-face “very soon”.

“At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement has been reached in principle to hold a bilateral summit in the coming days,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying on Thursday by Russian state news agencies.

“We are now starting to work out the details together with our American colleagues,” Ushakov said.

The Kremlin said a venue had been agreed “in principle”, but did not indicate where the summit could take place.

“Next week has been set as a target date,” Ushakov added.

Zelensky calls for meeting

Tens of thousands have been killed since Russia launched its military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian bombardments have forced millions for flee their homes and destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.

At talks in Istanbul, Russian negotiators have outlined hardline territorial demands if Ukraine wants Russia to halt its advance — calling for Kyiv to withdraw from territory it still controls and renounce Western military support.

Moscow has also repeatedly sought to cast doubt on Zelensky’s legitimacy and ruled out a meeting between the two leaders until after the terms of a peace deal have been agreed. The announcement of the upcoming summit comes a day after US envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in Moscow.

Witkoff proposed a trilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but Russia did not respond to that proposal, Ushakov said.

“The Russian side left this option completely without comment,” he added.

Zelensky earlier on Thursday had refreshed his call for a meeting with Putin — which he says is the only way to make progress towards peace.

“We in Ukraine have repeatedly said that finding real solutions can be truly effective at the level of leaders,” Zelensky wrote on social media.

“It is necessary to determine the timing for such a format and the range of issues to be addressed,” he added.

The Ukrainian leader said on Thursday morning that he had planned to hold “several” conversations throughout the course of the day, including with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as well as French and Italian officials.

“There will also be communication at the level of national security advisors,” Zelensky added. “The main thing is for Russia, which started this war, to take real steps to end its aggression,” Zelensky added.