FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28, 2019.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump plans to meet in person with Russian President Vladimir Putin as early as next week, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the plan.
Trump then plans to meet with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy together, the newspaper reported, adding that the plans were disclosed in a call with European leaders on Wednesday.
“The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the President is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelenskiy. President Trump wants this brutal war to end,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, responding to the report.
It was not immediately clear where or when such meetings would take place.
Earlier on Wednesday Trump acknowledged that he spoke with European leaders after U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff’s “highly productive” meeting with Putin in Russia.
While noting that “great progress” was made during the meeting, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come.”
Trump, who promised to end Russia’s war in Ukraine on “day one” during his presidential campaign, has held several phone calls with Putin and has met with Zelenskiy since returning to the White House in January.
However, in recent weeks, he has become increasingly frustrated with Moscow over a lack of progress towards ending the three-year conflict. As a result of the frustration, Trump set a Friday deadline for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions.