Putin To Meet Zelensky In Next Two Weeks: Germany's Friedrich Merz
Trump has put efforts to arrange a three-way meeting so that true negotiations can begin.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin has agreed to meet Ukraine's President Voldymyr Zelensky in the next two weeks, said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Merz was part of the European leaders who went to Washington to support Zelenskyy in his meeting with US President Donald Trump Monday.
In between the meeting, Trump dialed Putin and fixed a meeting, as reported by Reuters. Trump has put efforts to arrange a three-way meeting so that true negotiations can begin.
Moreover, this is the first time, Putin has agreed to see its Ukrainian counterpart since the start of the war almost four years back, Merz said as reported by Reuters.
Merz expressed his doubt whether Putin will have the courage to have such meet but persuasion is necessary. The location is still undecided. US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff are going work to coordinate the possible meeting, Trump said.
Trump also said that he can convince Putin to release as many as 1,000 prisoners for the display of good faith. However, this was not mentioned from Kremlin's side. Zelensky was pleased that the Trump has agreed to two key demand — participating in security guarantees as part of any peace deal and reserve discussion of territorial exchanges for direct talks with Putin, Bloomberg reported.
Most European leaders expressed that they are waiting for another meeting with Trump as soon as next Tuesday. The meeting is for leaders to discuss the securities guarantees they could collectively offer to Kyiv, Bloomberg reported.
Monday’s meeting at the White House included UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
The meeting turned out to be fortune for Ukraine as direction of the discussion turned away from pressuring the country to give up its territory. Meanwhile, Financial Times has reported that Ukraine has proposed to buy $100 billion American weapons, and another $50 billion deal to produce drones with Ukrainian companies, with financing provided by Europe.
