MOSCOW/KYIV/WASHINGTON: Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the coming days, the Kremlin said on Thursday, as the U.S. president seeks a breakthrough to end the Ukraine war after voicing mounting frustration with his Russian counterpart and threatening him with new sanctions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Europe must be involved in the peace process as he spoke on Thursday to European leaders, who are seen as more sympathetic to Kyiv’s cause amid Trump’s previous criticism of the Ukrainian leader.
Trump has threatened new sanctions from Friday against Russia and countries that buy its exports unless Putin agrees to end the 3-1/2-year conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two. Asked whether the Friday deadline to agree to a ceasefire still stood, Trump told reporters: “It’s gonna be up to him. We’re going to see what he has to say.” On Wednesday he imposed higher tariffs against India for buying Russian oil and said similar additional duties may follow on China, the other top buyer of Russian crude oil. It was not clear if he would announce further steps once his Friday deadline expires.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Russia and the U.S. had agreed to hold a Putin-Trump summit “in the coming days”.
Moves on a possible bilateral come following a three-hour meeting on Wednesday between Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff and Putin in Moscow.
Putin, at a meeting with the president of the United Arab Emirates, said the UAE would be an “entirely suitable” venue for the meeting but stopped short of confirming that the Gulf country would be the host.
Russia’s deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy on Thursday said of the Trump-Putin meeting that “as far as I heard, there are a number of locations but they agreed to something that they don’t want to disclose.”
There has been no summit of U.S. and Russian leaders since Putin and Joe Biden met in Geneva in June 2021.
Russia went to war in Ukraine in February 2022, citing threats to its own security and plunging relations into deep crisis. Kyiv and its Western allies cast the invasion as an imperial-style land grab.
Trump has moved to mend relations with Russia and try to end the war, although in his public comments he has veered between admiration and sharp criticism of Putin.
Russia’s main stock market index MOEX gained as much as 5% on the news, its highest level in two months. The rouble hit a two-week high against the U.S. dollar and China’s yuan.
“Russian stocks are soaring. Investors hope that the (Trump-Putin) meeting will be a step towards normalizing the geopolitical situation,“ Alfa Bank analysts said in a note.
A White House official also said on Wednesday that Trump could meet Putin as soon as next week.
The New York Times reported that Trump told European leaders during a call on Wednesday that he intended to meet with Putin and then follow up with a trilateral involving the Russian leader and Zelenskiy.
ZELENSKIY: EUROPE MUST HAVE A ROLE
Ukraine and European leaders have long held concerns that Trump, who has voiced sympathy with some of Russia’s demands, could align with Putin to force a deal on Zelenskiy that would be deeply disadvantageous to Kyiv. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Witkoff took part in Wednesday’s call between Trump, Zelenskiy and European leaders and briefed them on some things that Putin could agree to.
Zelenskiy spoke on Thursday with the leaders of France and Germany and with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and said Europe must be involved in the peace process.
“The war is happening in Europe, and Ukraine is an integral part of Europe – we are already in negotiations on EU accession. Therefore, Europe must be a participant in the relevant processes,“ he said on X.
He said the war must end with a “dignified peace”, and whatever settlement was reached would shape the security landscape of Europe for decades to come. Russia had still not said it was ready for a ceasefire, he added.
Mykola Bielieskov of the National Institute for Strategic Studies in Kyiv said offering Putin a summit with Trump amounted to giving him a reward without getting anything in return. This, he said, gave Russia “the impression of getting out of isolation and talking on an equal footing”.
He said the Kremlin “will continue to drag out time, using the very fact of the meetings as proof of openness to negotiations without any concessions”.
Zelenskiy said various possible bilateral and trilateral meeting formats had been discussed with Trump.
“Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side,“ he added.
‘MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL’
Ushakov said envoy Witkoff had raised on Wednesday the possibility of a Trump-Putin-Zelenskiy meeting but the Russian side had left this proposal “completely without comment”.
Asked about the possibility of meeting Zelenskiy, Putin said he was willing in principle but the conditions for a face-to-face with the Ukrainian leader were far from being met. Trump told reporters on Thursday that a meeting with Putin was not conditional on the Russian president agreeing to meet with Zelenskiy. Under the Biden administration, which imposed onerous sanctions on Moscow, Russia had described relations with the U.S. as “below zero”. Under Trump, both sides have spoken of a possible re-establishing of lucrative commercial ties.
Pro-Kremlin war blogger Yuri Podolyaka, posting after the Putin-Witkoff talks, said the Russian leader had played a “masterful diplomatic game”.
“It seems that Vladimir Putin has managed to spin Trump in a ‘carousel of negotiations’,“ he posted on his blog, which has more than three million subscribers.
On the streets of Kyiv, Ukrainians interviewed by Reuters were wary of what might come out of a Putin-Trump meeting.
“I don’t expect any positives,“ Mykhailo Kryshtal, a 55-year-old actor, said.
“Why should he (Putin) end this war? He has at his fingertips a lot of people willing to die for him, or for some ephemeral ideas produced in Russia. These are all some kind of games.” - Reuters
