Top Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said Thursday that an agreement has been reached for US President Donald Trump to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “in the coming days,” adding that the parties are already working on preparations.
It is “difficult to say” how long these preparations will take, Ushakov continued, but the goal is for the meeting to take place next week, Russian state media RIA Novosti reported.
On Wednesday, Trump said there was a “good chance” that the two leaders could meet “very soon” to discuss a potential end to the war in Ukraine.
Ushakov did not confirm where the meeting would take place but said the location has already been agreed upon, and will be “announced later,” according to RIA.
He added that Moscow has not responded to a proposal put forward by US special envoy Steve Witkoff a day earlier for trilateral talks between Putin, Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, RIA said.
On Wednesday, Witkoff and Putin met in Moscow to discuss an end to Russia’s war, though Trump later said that there had not been a “breakthrough” between the two men. He was also cautious when questioned about the timeline for a deal, saying he has “been disappointed before with this one.”
The meeting, which saw Witkoff visit Russia for the fifth time this year, came after a frustrated Trump imposed a deadline on Moscow, which is due to expire on Friday, to agree to a ceasefire or face tough secondary sanctions, hitting countries that buy Russian oil with a 100 percent tariff.
Just hours after the meeting, the US leader imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on India as punishment for its imports of Russian oil, according to a document posted on the White House website.
Zelensky, who spoke to Trump following the Witkoff-Putin meeting, said Wednesday that “it seems that Russia is now more inclined toward (a) ceasefire.”
“The pressure on Russia is working. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details. Neither us, nor the United States,” the Ukrainian leader said during his nightly video address to the nation.
This story has been updated with additional details.
