White House Says Trump is ‘Open’ to Talks with Putin and Zelenskyy

The White House has announced that United States President Donald Trump is “open” to the idea of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Russian officials have expressed interest in meeting with Trump. “The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the president is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” Leavitt told members of the press.

The potential meeting comes after US envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow to speak with Russian officials. Trump described the meeting as “highly productive” and said that “great progress was made!” In a social media post, Trump added, “Afterwards, I updated some of our European Allies. Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come.”

While hosting Apple CEO Tim Cook in the Oval Office, Trump was asked about the possibility of a three-way summit between himself, Putin, and Zelenskyy. Trump answered vaguely but favourably, saying, “Well, there’s a very good prospect that they will, and we haven’t determined where, but we had some very good talks with President Putin today. And there’s a very good chance that we could be ending the round, ending the end of that road.”

However, when pressed whether a ceasefire deal was on the horizon, Trump expressed less optimism. “I’ve been disappointed before with this one,” he replied. The US president has previously said that he is committed to helping bring the war in Ukraine to an end, initially promising to stop the conflict on “day one” of his presidency.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a TV interview that the US now has a better understanding of what conditions would be required for Russia to end the war. “For the first time perhaps since this administration began, we have some concrete examples of the kinds of things that Russia would ask for in order to end the war,” Rubio said, adding that questions of territory would be a key part of any deal.

The potential meeting between Trump, Putin, and Zelenskyy is seen as a possible step towards ending the conflict in Ukraine. However, the road to peace remains uncertain, and the White House has emphasized that there are no guarantees of success.