US President Donald Trump could meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as soon as next week in a bid to end the war in Ukraine that broke out in 2022, a White House official said on Wednesday (local time).
If Trump meets Putin, it would be the first face-to-face meeting between a sitting US President and his Russian counterpart since the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine. In June 2021, former US President Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva.
"The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the president is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelenskyy," said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
'Lot has to happen before'
However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has lowered the expectations of a meeting between Trump and Putin. In an interview on Fox Business, he said that "a lot has to happen before that can occur", when asked about the same.
"We’ve got to get close enough to that point so that a meeting like that will be productive and worth doing," he said.
"Today was a good day, but we’ve got a lot of work ahead," he said. "There’s still many impediments to overcome."
Kremlin confirms meeting between Trump, Putin
The Kremlin has confirmed that Putin and Trump will meet in the coming days. In a statement, Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said the two sides are working on setting up a meeting, and that a venue for the meeting has been agreed on and will be announced later.
Meeting between Putin, Zelenskyy?
In addition to a meeting between Trump and Putin, a summit could also take place between the Russian President and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the White House on Wednesday. Putin and Zelenskyy have not met each other since December 2019.
"There's a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon," Trump told reporters when asked about a potential meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.
Trump's push to end Ukraine war
Since his return to power in January, Trump has made a lot of push to end the war in Ukraine. He has also met Zelenskyy several times in this regard, but is yet to meet Putin. The US President, in a controversial move, has also imposed sanctions on countries, including India, for purchasing Russian products, including gas and oil, and weapons.
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