WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has said that he is ready to sit down with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine war even if the Russian leader has not met Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky first.The US president’s remarks mark a shift from his earlier stance that a Putin–Zelensky meeting was a must before any summit with the Kremlin leader.Trump has given Moscow until Friday to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face a new round of sanctions.
But asked by reporters in the Oval Office if that deadline still held, Trump did not answer clearly.“It’s going to be up to (Putin),” Trump said. “We’re going to see what he has to say.”
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has been pressuring Moscow to end Russia’s military assault on UkraineThe Kremlin said Thursday that Putin was set to attend a summit with Trump in the “coming days”, but the Russian leader essentially ruled out including Zelensky.