Trump says he won’t waste time on Putin summit without deal guarantee as Kremlin envoy Dmitriev meets US officials on Ukraine peace talks.
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: US President Donald Trump downplayed prospects for an imminent summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin despite ongoing diplomatic efforts.
Trump told reporters he would only meet Putin if confident about reaching a deal, stating “I’m not going to be wasting my time.”
The president expressed disappointment that Ukrainian peace negotiations hadn’t concluded before Middle East peace efforts.
His comments came as Kremlin negotiator Kirill Dmitriev held talks with Trump administration officials on Friday and Saturday.
Dmitriev met Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Florida on Saturday, according to US media reports.
The Russian envoy told CNN a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict appeared within reach.
“I believe Russia and the US and Ukraine actually quite close to a diplomatic solution,” Dmitriev said.
He noted Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky’s significant shift in acknowledging current battle lines as negotiation basis.
Dmitriev’s US visit followed Washington imposing sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies on Wednesday.
Trump had delayed Russian sanctions for months but acted after planned Budapest summit with Putin collapsed.
The president expressed hope the sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil would be temporary and the war settled quickly.
Putin acknowledged the sanctions as serious but insisted they wouldn’t significantly damage Russia’s economy.
The Russian leader called the measures an unfriendly act that harmed improving US-Russia relations.
Putin confirmed he remained open to dialogue with Trump despite the sanctions.
Dmitriev predicted a Trump-Putin meeting “will happen, but probably at a later date.”
Zelensky welcomed the US sanctions as a strong message that aggression wouldn’t go unanswered.
The European Union imposed parallel sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas sector alongside US measures. – AFP
