U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday (18) that he has begun preparations for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The statement came after Trump hosted Zelensky and European Union leaders at the White House.
“During the meeting we discussed Security Guarantees for Ukraine, which Guarantees would be provided by the various European Countries, with a coordination with the United States of America. Everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine. At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky. After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself,” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who took part in the Washington talks, confirmed that discussions on a possible Putin–Zelensky meeting had taken place and said it was planned for the coming two weeks. Still, he voiced skepticism, saying he doubted Putin “has the courage” to meet Zelensky directly.
The Ukrainian leader declared that Russia had suggested holding a bilateral meeting with Trump before a trilateral summit. Zelensky stressed he was ready to meet Putin “without any preconditions” and reiterated his call for a ceasefire.
According to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Putin told Trump he was prepared to meet Zelensky. However, the Kremlin has not confirmed this. Russian officials have instead spoken of the possibility of raising the level of talks between Moscow and Kyiv but stopped short of committing to a leaders’ summit.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that meetings involving heads of state must be carefully prepared. He said Moscow does not reject any negotiation format, bilateral or trilateral, but insisted that talks should move “step by step,” beginning with technical-level experts before advancing toward summits.
Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov later confirmed that Trump and Putin had discussed the possibility of “elevating the level” of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, but again avoided confirming that Putin would meet Zelensky.
