Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he hopes to meet next week with U.S. President Donald Trump, possibly in the United Arab Emirates. The news came on the eve of a White House deadline for Moscow to show progress toward ending the 3-year-old war in Ukraine.
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov had said earlier a summit could possibly take place next week at a venue that has been decided “in principle.”
No location had been determined Thursday morning, according to a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The U.S. was still expected to impose additional sanctions Friday on Russia, the official said.
Ushakov brushed aside the possibility of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joining the summit, something the White House had said Trump was ready to consider. Putin has spurned Zelenskyy’s previous offers of a meeting to clinch a breakthrough.
“We propose, first of all, to focus on preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump, and we consider it most important that this meeting be successful and productive,” Ushakov said, adding that U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff's suggestion of a meeting including Ukraine's leader “was not specifically discussed.”
Putin made the announcement in the Kremlin after his meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE.
Asked who initiated the meeting, Putin said that didn't matter and “both sides expressed an interest.”
According to the White House official, a Trump-Putin meeting would not happen if the Russian leader does not agree to meet with Zelenskyy.
Speaking of Zelenskyy's possible involvement, Putin said he has mentioned several times that he wasn't against it, adding: “It’s a possibility, but certain conditions need to be created” for it to happen. The Kremlin has previously said that Putin and Zelenskyy should meet only when an agreement negotiated by their delegations is close.
Ukraine fears being sidelined by direct negotiations between Washington and Moscow.
Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund who met with Witkoff on Wednesday, said a Trump-Putin meeting would allow Moscow to “clearly convey its position," and he hoped a summit would include discussions on mutually beneficial economic issues, including joint investments in areas such as rare earth elements.
The meeting would be the first U.S.-Russia summit since 2021, when former President Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva. It would be a significant milestone toward Trump’s effort to end the war, although there’s no guarantee it would stop the fighting since Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace.
Next week is the target date for a summit, Ushakov said, while noting that such events take time to organize and no date is confirmed. The possible venue will be announced “a little later," he said.
Months of U.S.-led efforts have yielded no progress on stopping Russia's invasion of its neighbor. The war has killed tens of thousands of troops on both sides as well as more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations.
Western officials have repeatedly accused Putin of stalling in peace negotiations to allow Russian forces time to capture more Ukrainian land. Putin previously has offered no concessions and will only accept a settlement on his terms.
A Trump-Putin meeting on the war would be a departure from the Biden administration’s policy of “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” — a key demand from Kyiv.
At the start of his second term, Trump was conciliatory toward Putin, for whom he has long shown admiration, and even echoed some of his talking points on the war. But he recently has expressed increasing exasperation with Putin, criticizing the Kremlin leader for his unyielding stance on U.S.-led peace efforts, and has threatened Moscow with new sanctions.
Zelenskyy seeks European involvement
Zelenskyy said he planned calls with European leaders Thursday to discuss the latest developments amid a flurry of diplomatic activity.
European countries must also be involved in finding a solution to the war on their own continent, he said on Telegram.
“Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same bold approach from the Russian side. It is time to end the war,” he added.
A ceasefire and long-term security guarantees are priorities in potential negotiation with Russia, he said on social media.
Securing a truce, deciding a format for a summit and providing assurances for Ukraine’s future protection from invasion — a consideration that must involve the U.S. and Europe — are crucial aspects to address, Zelenskyy said.
He noted that Russian strikes on civilians haven't eased off despite Trump publicly urging Putin to relent.
A Russian attack Wednesday in the central Dnipro region killed four people and injured eight others, he said.
Poll shows support for continuing the fight waning in Ukraine
A new Gallup poll published Thursday found that Ukrainians are increasingly eager for a settlement that ends the fight against Russia’s invasion.
The enthusiasm for a negotiated deal is a sharp reversal from 2022 — the year the war began — when Gallup found that about three-quarters of Ukrainians wanted to keep fighting until victory. Now only about one-quarter hold that view, with support for continuing the war declining steadily across all regions and demographic groups.
The findings were based on samples of 1,000 or more respondents ages 15 and older living in Ukraine. Some territories under entrenched Russian control, representing about 10% of the population, were excluded from surveys conducted after 2022 due to lack of access.
Since the start of the full-scale war, Russia’s relentless pounding of urban areas behind the front line has killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations. On the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line snaking from northeast to southeast Ukraine, where tens of thousands of troops on both sides have died, Russia’s bigger army is slowly capturing more land.
In the new Gallup survey, conducted in early July, about seven in 10 Ukrainians say their country should seek to negotiate a settlement as soon as possible. Zelenskyy last month renewed his offer to meet with Putin, but his overture was rebuffed.
Most Ukrainians do not expect a lasting peace anytime soon, the poll found. Only about one-quarter say it’s “very” or “somewhat” likely that active fighting will end within the next 12 months, while about seven in 10 think it’s “somewhat” or “very” unlikely that active fighting will be over in the next year.
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Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Amelia Thomson-Deveaux and Michelle Price contributed from Washington.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Dasha Litvinova And Barry Hatton, The Associated Press
