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Donald Trump could meet with Vladimir Putin next week to discuss a potential ceasefire in Ukraine, a White House official has said.
The official told the Associated Press that Trump was open to meeting both Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, but cautioned that a meeting had not been scheduled yet and no location agreed on.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said there was “a good chance” of a leaders’ summit between Putin and Zelensky, which would be their first meeting since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The face-to-face meeting would also be the first between a sitting US and Russian president since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021, some eight months before Russia launched the biggest attack on a European nation since the Second World War.
The plans were disclosed in a call with European leaders, according to the New York Times, who cited two people familiar with the plan.
Earlier, Trump said his envoy Steve Witkoff made “great progress” in a meeting with Putin in Moscow, adding: “Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come.”
Ukraine-Russia latest: Key PointsWhat we know about Putin’s meeting with Trump’s peace envoy Witkoff
Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow yesterday, which the US president lauded as “a highly productive meeting” in which “great progress was made.”
- Witkoff met with Putin days before the White House’s deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or potentially face severe economic penalties that could also hit countries buying its oil.
- The meeting between Putin and Witkoff lasted about three hours, the Kremlin said.
- Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said Putin and Witkoff had a “useful and constructive conversation” that focused on the Ukrainian crisis and, in a nod toward improving relations between Washington and Moscow, “prospects for possible development of strategic cooperation” between the United States and Russia.
- White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said after the meeting that Trump intends to meet with both Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.
- Additionally, two people familiar with the matter said Trump could hold a bilateral meeting with Putin followed by a trilateral meeting with Zelensky as soon as next week, reported the New York Times.
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin greets US special envoy Steve Witkoff prior to their talks in Moscow (Sputnik)
Arpan Rai7 August 2025 06:18
Zelensky marks one year of Kursk incursion: ‘A truly Ukrainian historic operation’
Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Ukrainian forces who carried out the country’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk oblast a year ago as he marked the anniversary.
Ukrainian forces pushed into Kursk on 6 August last year in a surprise attack, with battle-hardened mechanised units quickly overwhelming lightly armed Russian border guards and inexperienced army conscripts. Hundreds were taken prisoner.
The incursion was a humiliating blow to the Kremlin – the first time the country’s territory was occupied by an invader since the Second World War.
“Today marks the anniversary of the Kursk operation – a truly Ukrainian historic operation. We brought the war onto the territory of the aggressor state and are still operating on its territory. At a time when many spoke that the situation had reached a stalemate, and were losing faith in Ukraine, we proved that Ukrainians know how to act right,” he said in his nightly address.
Ukraine proved that many of Russia’s threats were just bluffs, he said.
“Thirteen hundred kilometres of Russian territory were under our control. And this forced the Russians not only to pull their forces away from the Donetsk region, but also to ask North Korea for help,” Zelensky said, calling the historic incursion “the most important chapters of this war”.
Chris Stevenson explains why Ukraine launched an audacious cross-border attack on Putin’s forces in Russia:
Arpan Rai7 August 2025 06:04
US understands conditions under which Russia would end war in Ukraine, says Rubio
The US has a better understanding of the conditions under which Russia would be prepared to end its war in Ukraine after president Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met with Vladimir Putin, secretary of state Marco Rubio said.
The key elements of any ceasefire agreement would involve territory, he said.
“For the first time perhaps since this administration began, we have some concrete examples of the kinds of things that Russia would ask for in order to end the war,” Rubio said in an interview with Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow”.
Arpan Rai7 August 2025 05:45
Trump hails ‘great progress’ in Putin talks – but no sign of end to Ukraine war
The US president insisted “great progress” had been made between his special envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian president following a three-hour meeting in Moscow yesterday.
Mr Witkoff had travelled to Russia in an attempt to convince the Russian president to sign a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine.
Afterwards, Trump posted on his social media site Truth Social: “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!”.
Arpan Rai7 August 2025 05:33
Trump’s envoy Witkoff will bring back only humiliation from his meeting with Putin
The US president has been taking a much tougher line, in public, when it comes to getting Russia to wind down its war against Ukraine, in a shift away from the blatantly pro-Putin stand of his earlier presidency.
If Russia doesn’t join ceasefire discussions by Friday, Trump has threatened to implement more sanctions against Moscow.
World affairs editor Sam Kiley writes:
Arpan Rai7 August 2025 05:13
US sanctions expected to hit Russia tomorrow despite high-level talks
The US is expected to continue with its plan to impose secondary sanctions against Russia on Friday, after a 10-day deadline that Donald Trump imposed is to expire, a White House official said yesterday.
The high-level talks between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian president Vladimir Putin did not yield results to prevent the sanctions from Trump administration, the officials said.
“The Russians are eager to continue engaging with the United States,” a White House official said after the meeting, adding that “the secondary sanctions are still expected to be implemented on Friday”.
The White House has not yet released details about the sanctions.
Washington has threatened “severe tariffs” and other economic penalties if the killing in the Russia-Ukraine war doesn’t stop.
Trump also has threatened to slap tariffs on nations that buy Russian oil, which could increase import taxes dramatically on China and India. On Tuesday, he said he hadn’t publicly committed to any particular tariff rate, and indicated that his decision could depend on an outcome of the meeting with Putin.
Russian president Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff shake hands during their meeting in Moscow (Sputnik)
Arpan Rai7 August 2025 05:10
Russia more inclined to ceasefire now, says Zelensky
Russia is now more inclined to agree to a ceasefire in the Ukraine war, president Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday.
In a social media post yesterday evening, Zelensky said he and Donald Trump spoke on the phone after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Vladimir Putin.
He said “European leaders also participated in the conversation,” and “we discussed what was said in Moscow.”
“It seems that Russia is now more inclined to agree to a ceasefire,” Mr Zelensky said, adding that the pressure on Moscow “is working,” without elaborating.
The Ukrainian war-time leader stressed it was important to make sure Russia does not “deceive us or the United States” when it comes to “the details” of a potential agreement.
Kyiv proposes that Ukraine and its allies soon “talk to determine our position, our common position, and our common view.”
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky looks on as he meets with soldiers on the frontline positions at an undisclosed location in the Kharkiv region (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service)
Arpan Rai7 August 2025 04:58
Rubio says ‘a lot must happen’ before Trump and Putin meet
US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who was asked in an interview on Fox Business about a potential meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, said “a lot has to happen before that can occur.”
Rubio said the US would be having talks with its European allies and the Ukrainians over the next few days.
He said Trump meeting directly with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine would help close an agreement, but said: “We’ve got to get close enough to that point so that a meeting like that will be productive and worth doing.”
“Today was a good day, but we’ve got a lot of work ahead,” he said. “There’s still many impediments to overcome.”
US vice president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio ahead of a meeting at the Oval Office at the White House (Getty Images)
Arpan Rai7 August 2025 04:49
Trump could meet Putin in person as soon as next week, says White House official
President Donald Trump could meet in person with Russian president Vladimir Putin as soon as next week in his bid to continue to negotiate for an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, a White House official has said.
The official added that a meeting has not been scheduled yet and no location has been determined.
The White House said Trump was also open to a meeting with both Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump, appearing before reporters later at the White House, didn’t answer questions about a potential location for a meeting but when asked about a summit with Putin and Zelensky, said “there’s a very good prospect that they will” meet.
However, the president declined to predict how close he was to reaching a deal to end the fighting, saying, “I’ve been disappointed before with this one.”
US president Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC (AFP via Getty Images)
Arpan Rai7 August 2025 04:41