Play store
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be arranged “very soon”, raising hopes of renewed diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
The announcement came as Trump’s administration stepped up efforts to broker an end to the conflict, now in its fifth year.
“There’ll be a meeting set up very soon and I think a lot of progress could be made,” Trump told reporters.
Zelensky said on Sunday that a trilateral meeting involving Ukraine, the United States and Russia would take place in November, with the aim of restarting stalled peace talks.
The Kremlin had previously said a meeting involving the three countries was planned for November in the United Arab Emirates.
Putin, who ordered Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has repeatedly rejected face-to-face talks with Zelensky and insisted that Moscow intends to seize the remaining parts of eastern Ukraine it claims.
Trump returned to the White House in January 2025 promising to end the war within 24 hours. However, more than a year of US-led diplomatic efforts has failed to produce a breakthrough, with tens of thousands of people killed in the conflict.
In recent days, Trump has again shifted his attention away from Ukraine and towards Putin, touting what he described as an agreement under which Russia would sell diesel to help bring down prices driven up by his war with Iran.
Despite renewed diplomatic efforts, major disagreements over territory and security guarantees continue to stand in the way of a settlement.
