Zelenskiy and Putin to meet ‘soon’: Donald Trump

A meeting would soon be arranged involving Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in an effort to end the war between their countries, now in its fifth year, US President Donald Trump said early yesterday.

“I think with Russia, we’re making a lot of progress with Russia-Ukraine,” Trump told reporters after returning from Texas, where he held two midterm election campaign rallies.

“There’ll be a meeting set up here soon with President Putin and President Zelenskiy,” he said.“

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in Kyiv on Thursday last week.

Photo: Reuters

“I would say it’ll happen in the over the next not too long,” he said when asked when such a summit might take place.

He also said “it could be done not necessarily through a meeting.”

He did not provide further details.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff joined Trump on his trip to Texas, and he said that they discussed Russia and the Iran war.

Trump also said he was to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “on nuclear disarmament” and that “certainly, Russia would fit into it.”

Trump has expressed frustration with Zelenskiy in the past few weeks, blaming him for contributing to higher US energy prices through attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.