Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump said he is arranging a direct meeting between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. He said this after holding a long meeting with Zelensky and other European leaders in Washington on August 18. Trump said that this would be followed by trilateral summit between the US, Russia and Ukraine.
Trump wrote on social media that he had discussed the matter with Putin during a phone call amid meetings with European leaders at the White House. “At the conclusion of the meeting with Zelensky , I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky,” he wrote. “After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat (trilateral meeting), which would be the two Presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years.”
Trump said his meeting with Zelensky and other European leaders centered around security guarantees for Ukraine, which “would be provided by the various European Countries, with a coordination with the US. European leaders including UK PM Keir Starmer, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, among others, were also present at the White House.
The hastily assembled meet comes after last week’s non-conclusive Alaska summit between Russian President Vladmir Putin and Trump.
