A summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump has been agreed upon, Kremlin official Yuri Ushakov announced Thursday – just a day before the White House’s deadline for Moscow to show progress toward ending the three-year war in Ukraine.
Ushakov said the meeting could take place as early as next week at a venue “decided in principle,” while dismissing the possibility of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joining the talks – despite White House indications that Trump was open to including Zelenskyy.
Putin has repeatedly rejected Zelenskyy’s previous offers for a breakthrough meeting.
“We believe the priority should be preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump, and ensuring it is successful and productive,” Ushakov said, noting that U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal for Zelenskyy’s involvement “was not specifically discussed.”
It remains unclear how the announcement will impact Trump’s Friday deadline for Russia to halt hostilities or face intensified economic sanctions.
The meeting would be the first U.S.-Russia summit since 2021, when former President Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva. It would mark a significant milestone in Trump’s effort to end the war, although there is 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 the summit, Ushakov said, while noting 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 in 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 peace negotiations to allow Russian forces time to capture more Ukrainian land. Putin has offered no concessions and will accept a settlement only on his terms.
A meeting between Putin and Trump 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, whom he has long admired, even echoing 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 threatening Moscow with new sanctions.
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 cease-fire and long-term security guarantees are priorities in potential negotiations 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 have not eased 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.
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 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 larger 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 lasting peace anytime soon, the poll found. Only about one-quarter say it is “very” or “somewhat” likely that active fighting will end within the next 12 months, while about seven in 10 think it is “somewhat” or “very” unlikely that fighting will end in the next year.
