Aug. 7 (UPI) — The Kremlin announced Thursday that a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump will be held in the coming days, as the American leader has been pushing for trilateral cease-fire talks between Moscow and Kyiv.
Yuri Ushakov, foreign affairs advisor to Putin, made the announcement to reporters, stating a venue has also been decided upon, in principle, for the Trump-Putin summit, but that it will be announced later, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported.
The meeting will mark the first face-to-face conversation between the world leaders since they spoke on the sidelines of a G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, in 2019. The pair also held a summit in Helsinki in 2018.
Since then, their conversations have been via telephone or through envoys.
On Wednesday, Trump said he was working to schedule a trilateral meeting between himself, Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
His special envoy, Steve Witkoff, had met with Putin on Wednesday, and Trump described their meeting as “highly productive” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“Great progress made,” the U.S. leader said.
Trump has been seeking a cease-fire since his inauguration in January. During his campaign, the American leader repeatedly said he could end the war within 24 hours of returning to office.
Amid his second term, the United States, once Ukraine’s most ardent supporter, drastically shifted its policies, stating Kyiv would have to give up land to Russia in a cease-fire while pulling back on its military commitments to the besieged ally, demanding that others, especially Europe, it’s largest backer, due more.
However, Trump’s tone has changed slightly as the war has dragged on, and he has begun to direct his ire at Putin for the lack of a cease-fire agreement. Early last month, he lifted a pause he had placed on U.S. military aid transfers to Ukraine.
The announcement of the agreement comes a day after The New York Times reported that Trump intends to meet with Putin next week, followed by a meeting with him, Putin and Zelensky sometime after that.
Zelensky has been vocal about his willingness for cease-fire talks, and early Thursday said on X that a meeting between the world leaders “can lead to a truly lasting peace.”
“We in Ukraine have repeatedly said that finding real solutions can be truly effective at the level of leaders,” he said in the statement.
“Ukraine has never wanted war and will work toward peace as productively as possible. The main thing is for Russia, which started this war, to take real steps to end its aggression.”
The war between Ukraine and Russia began with a Kremlin invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Russia also annexed Crimea in February 2014.