Donald Trump has confirmed that efforts are underway to arrange a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, although he did not specify when the meeting would take place. Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump stated, “He wants to meet and we are setting it up.”
However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that the US has not yet made a formal request for the meeting.
Trump, who is set to resume the presidency on January 20, 2025, has vowed to take swift action to negotiate an end to the ongoing war in Ukraine. He has expressed doubts about continued US military and financial support for Ukraine, calling the war a “bloody mess.”
“President Putin wants to meet,” Trump said. “He has said that publicly, and we need to end this war.”
As part of his preparations for his second term, Trump has nominated Keith Kellogg, a former national security adviser and retired US Army lieutenant general, to serve as special envoy to Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg previously published a paper through the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank, proposing that Ukraine should only receive additional US aid if it agrees to engage in peace talks with Russia. However, he suggested that the US should continue to support Ukraine if Russia refuses to negotiate.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in comments following Trump’s election victory in November, expressed hope that the war could end more quickly under Trump’s leadership. Zelensky mentioned having a “constructive exchange” with Trump over the phone but did not clarify whether Trump had set any conditions for peace talks with Russia.
