The White House said Tuesday that planning is underway for a direct meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the coming days to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Putin agreed to the meeting as part of “the next phase of the peace process” in a call with U.S. President Donald Trump following Monday’s meetings in Washington between Trump, Zelenskyy and a group of European and NATO leaders.
A future trilateral meeting between Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump will follow the one-on-one meeting “if necessary,” Leavitt added.
“I can assure you that the United States government and the Trump administration is working with both Russia and Ukraine to make that bilateral happen as we speak,” she told reporters.
Asked if Putin has agreed to hold the meeting with Zelenskyy within the next two weeks, Leavitt replied: “He has.”
Russia has made no explicit commitment to a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow did not reject any formats for discussing peace in Ukraine, but any meeting of national leaders “must be prepared with utmost thoroughness.”
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Trump said earlier on Tuesday that he hoped Putin would move forward on ending the war in Ukraine, but conceded that the Russian leader may not want to make a deal at all, adding this would create a “rough situation” for Putin.
In an interview with the Fox News Fox & Friends program, Trump said he believed Putin’s course of action would become clear in the next couple of weeks.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem (reaching a peace deal), to be honest with you. I think Putin is tired of it. I think they’re all tired of it, but you never know,” Trump said.
“We’re going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks…. It’s possible that he doesn’t want to make a deal,” said Trump, who has previously threatened more sanctions on Russia and nations that buy its oil if Putin does not make peace.
Zelenskyy said Monday that he was “ready” to meet with Putin. He told Ukrainian reporters outside the White House following his meetings that he intends to discuss the future of Ukrainian territory currently held by Russian forces.
“The question of territory is a question that we will leave between me and Putin,” he said in Ukrainian, according to the Kyiv Independent. “Security guarantees will probably be negotiated with our partners.”
European and international allies on Tuesday began discussing future security guarantee plans, which Ukraine hopes will be finalized before a future meeting with Putin. NATO military leaders are set to continue the discussion Wednesday.
Trump on Tuesday ruled out placing American soldiers in Ukraine and gave no specifics about the security guarantees he has previously said Washington could offer Kyiv under any post-war settlement.
But in the same interview with Fox News, Trump suggested that Washington could provide air support to Ukraine.
“When it comes to security, (Europeans) are willing to put people on the ground, we’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you talk about by air because nobody has stuff we have, really they don’t have,” Trump said. He did not provide any further details.
He added “you have my assurance” that U.S. troops will not be deployed to Ukraine.
The White House later said air support was an option being looked at.
“It is an option and a possibility. I won’t certainly rule out anything as far as the military options that the president has at his disposal…. I can tell you he’s definitively ruled out boots on the ground,” Leavitt said.
— with files from Reuters
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