Trump says Putin-Zelensky meeting to be set up ‘very soon’

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky would be set up “very soon.” The announcement came as Trump’s administration ramps up diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war, 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 between Kyiv, Washington and Moscow would take place in November, aiming to restart stalled peace talks. The Kremlin had previously said that a meeting between the three countries was planned to take place in the United Arab Emirates in November. Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, has consistently rejected face-to-face talks with Zelensky and insisted Moscow intends to seize the rest of eastern Ukraine.

Trump came to power in January 2025 promising to end the war in 24 hours — but over a year of US-led talks have failed to produce a breakthrough, with tens of thousands killed. In recent days Trump has once again pivoted away from Ukraine and back to Putin, trumpeting what he said was a deal for Russia to sell diesel and reduce prices sent soaring by his Iran war.

AFP