Trump to Meet Putin as Early as Next Week

Donald Trump told allies that he planned to meet Vladimir Putin next week, followed by a three-way meeting that would include Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president.

The announcement has raised hopes that an end to the conflict could be in sight after more than three years of intense fighting.

After speaking by phone to the American president, Zelensky said he believed Russia was “now more inclined to a ceasefire”.

The positive signs came during a day of intense diplomatic activity.

Trump’s special envoy met in Moscow with Putin, the Russian president, for three hours.

At the same time, Trump intensified his pressure on Moscow with fresh sanctions and declared Russia to be an “extraordinary threat” to the United States.

Trump said he would hit India with a further 25 per cent trade tariff over its purchase of Russian oil, a vital source of income for the Kremlin.

In a call with European leaders, Trump set out his plan to meet with Putin as soon as next week, according to The New York Times.

The first meeting would include only Putin and Trump, followed by sessions with Zelensky, and would not include any of their European counterparts.

“My special envoy, Steve Witkoff, just had a highly productive meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin,” he posted on Truth Social. “Great progress was made! Afterwards, I updated some of our European allies.”

Speaking in the Oval Office later in the day, Trump played down the idea that Putin had suddenly signalled he was ready to make concessions.

“I don’t call it a breakthrough,” he said. “I mean, we’ve been working on this a long time.”

He offered no further details about when or where a meeting with Putin could take place other than to say it could happen “soon”.

He added that more secondary sanctions on countries doing trade with Russia could follow and did not rule out the idea that China could be included.

“It’s only been eight hours so let’s see what happens over the next sanctions. You’re going to see a lot more,” he said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox Business late on Wednesday that more had to be done to reach an agreement between the parties.

“Today was a good day, but we got a lot of work ahead,” he said. “There’s still many impediments to overcome, and we hope to do that over the next few days and hours.”

Earlier, a senior administration official said secondary sanctions were still set to be imposed on countries trading with Russia on Friday.

“The meeting with Russia and special envoy Witkoff went well,” said the official. “The Russians are eager to continue engaging with the United States. The secondary sanctions are still expected to be implemented on Friday.”

For his part, Zelensky sounded an optimistic note.

“It seems that Russia is now more inclined to a ceasefire, the pressure on them is working,” he said. “But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in detail, neither us nor the United States.”

Wednesday brought a hectic slew of developments as Trump continues to push for an unconditional, 30-day ceasefire, which would then pave the way for talks to establish a permanent peace deal.

After Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow, Trump issued an executive order imposing tariffs on India and toughening his rhetoric on the threat from Moscow.

“I have received additional information from various senior officials on, among other things, the actions of the government of the Russian Federation with respect to the situation in Ukraine,” Trump said.

“After considering this additional information, among other things, I find that … the actions and policies of the government of the Russian Federation continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

The language marked a significant shift from earlier this year, when Trump went out of his way to placate Putin in order to coax him to the negotiating table.

It is not clear what the “additional information” is and White House officials did not respond to requests for more details.

“I determine that it is necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem duty on imports of articles of India, which is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil,” Trump added in the executive order.

Trump had suggested that Witkoff’s meeting with Putin – their fifth – would determine any decision for the US president to follow through on threats to impose tariffs on countries buying Russian energy.

Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary, said in a statement: “As President Trump said earlier today on Truth Social, great progress was made during Special Envoy Witkoff’s meeting with President Putin.

“The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the President is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelensky. President Trump wants this brutal war to end.”

India and China are among the countries buying the most Russian crude oil, which analysts say provides key revenues for Putin to fuel his war machine in Ukraine.

A top Russian presidential aide described the talks as “useful and constructive”.

“Russia had conveyed signals to the American side on the Ukrainian issue and received corresponding signals from Trump,” Yuri Ushakov told reporters after talks wrapped up.