President Donald Trump stated on Thursday that a meeting between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not a necessary condition for his upcoming summit with the Russian leader. This move signals a significant shift from previous White House messaging and sets the stage for high-stakes talks aimed at bringing an end to the Ukraine war.
The announcement came just hours after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had indicated that Trump wanted to meet with both leaders to work toward a resolution. “President Trump would like to meet with both… because he wants this brutal war to end,” she said. However, when a reporter directly asked Trump if the Zelenskyy meeting was a prerequisite for his talks with Putin, he replied, “No, he doesn’t.”
Kremlin Confirms Summit with Trump is Imminent
Earlier on Thursday, Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, confirmed that the Kremlin had agreed in principle to a bilateral meeting with Trump, which is expected to happen “in the coming days.” Ushakov noted that the agreement came “at the suggestion of the American side.” The Kremlin has dismissed the immediate possibility of a three-way summit that includes Zelenskyy, though it did not completely rule out future dialogue. Putin himself reiterated that a meeting with Zelenskyy was “possible” but that the necessary conditions were “still far away.”
Economic Pressure and Zelenskyy’s Call for Inclusion
Trump’s administration is preparing to increase economic pressure on Russia, with new secondary sanctions expected to take effect on Friday. These measures include a 100% secondary tariff on any country purchasing Russian goods, a move aimed largely at China, as well as a 25% tariff already imposed on India for its Russian oil acquisitions. In response to these developments, President Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine is open to all leader-level discussions but stressed that his nation must not be sidelined in any talks that determine its future.
