President Trump and President Putin will meet for the first time in seven years in the “coming days” to discuss a ceasefire deal in Ukraine, a Kremlin aide has confirmed.
“At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement was essentially reached to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days — that is, a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump,” Yuri Ushakov said in televised remarks.
“We are now beginning concrete preparations together with our American colleagues,” he added. He did not say where the meeting would be held.
On Wednesday, Trump was said to have told European leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer, that he intended to meet the Russian president face to face soon for the first time since 2018. That meeting took place in Helsinki.
Trump said that his meeting with Putin could be followed shortly by another in which the two would be joined by President Zelensky of Ukraine. Trump’s plans were revealed in a call with Starmer, Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, and Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary-general, according to The New York Times.
The White House said it was “open” to a meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelensky. Trump had said there was a “good chance” of a meeting “very soon”.
He also said there was going to be “a lot more” secondary sanctions after he imposed a 50 per cent tariff on India for buying Russian oil. Asked whether a ceasefire in Ukraine was close, Trump said: “I’ve been disappointed before with this one. I’m here to get the thing over with.”
Trump claimed that Russia had lost more than 20,000 soldiers since the beginning of the year while Ukraine had lost about 9,000. According to the United Nations, more than 6,700 Ukrainian civilians were killed or injured in the first half of this year.
Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary, said that “the Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump”, adding that he was “open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelensky”.
On Wednesday, Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy, held what the Kremlin called “useful and constructive” talks with Putin in Moscow, two days before Trump’s deadline for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Witkoff and Putin met for about three hours.
The motorcade thought to be transporting Steve Witkoff through Moscow
YULIA MOROZOVA/REUTERS
Rubio said of the meeting: “Today was a good day, but there is a lot of work to do, I don’t want to exaggerate here. We still have a ways to go there. We are certainly closer today than we were yesterday, but we weren’t close at all.”
Yuri Ushakov gives a briefing after discussions
Ushakov said that the two sides had exchanged “signals” on Ukraine and discussed the possibility of developing strategic co-operation between Moscow and Washington, but declined to give more details before Witkoff had reported back to Trump.
Trump later described the meeting as “highly productive”, saying on his Truth Social platform: “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.”
American “secondary sanctions” against Russia were still “expected to be implemented on Friday”, a White House official told Reuters.
Zelensky said he had spoken with Trump after Witkoff’s meeting, in their second phone call this week. Zelensky said that “European leaders” had also been on the call, in which they discussed “what was spelled out in Moscow”. He said on X: “Our joint position with our partners is absolutely clear — the war must end.”
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The head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev, who had met Witkoff earlier in the day and walked with him in Zaryadye Park, near Red Square, said on social media: “Dialogue will prevail.”
Trump, who entered office vowing to broker a swift end to the war, has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin’s refusal to meet his ceasefire demands.
Instead of the full ceasefire that Trump has demanded for months, Putin is said to be considering a partial “air truce” that would halt the missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities. Last week Trump described Russia’s attacks on Ukraine as “disgusting” and “a disgrace”.