A White House official has told ABC News that President Trump is open to holding a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that it could happen as soon as next week.
The news came after US envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow. The White House official said that Witkoff informed Trump that the Russian leader wanted to meet with him. In response, the official said that Trump conveyed he would be open to the meeting if Putin also meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to The New York Times, Trump is planning to hold a meeting with Putin, followed by another meeting with the Russian leader that will include Zelensky. So far, there’s been no confirmation from Russia that Putin has agreed to a meeting with Zelensky.
The Times report said that Trump conveyed his plans to European leaders. After Witkoff held three hours of talks with Putin at the Kremlin, Trump wrote on Truth Social that “good progress” was made in the meeting and that he updated “some of our European Allies” on the situation.
While Trump spoke positively of the talks, he also increased tariffs on India to 50% over New Delhi’s import of Russian oil and said similar measures could be taken against other countries that purchase Russian energy. Trump had given Russia a deadline of August 8 to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine before he said he would start imposing “secondary tariffs” on Moscow’s trading partners.
Trump has also taken steps to flood Ukraine with more weapons, including by announcing a new NATO scheme that will involve European countries purchasing US weapons to send into the war. So far, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway have pledged to purchase over $1 billion in US military equipment for Ukraine.
