Ukraine war: Trump wants trilateral meeting with Putin, Zelensky

by · UPI

Aug. 6 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump said he will work to schedule a trilateral meeting soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war in Ukraine.

Trump announced his intent to meet with the leaders of the warring nations as early as next week after special Envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin on Wednesday.

"Steve Witkoff just had a highly productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin," Trump said in a Truth Social post. "Great progress was made."

Witkoff and Putin met ahead of Friday's Trump-imposed deadline for a cease-fire in Ukraine.

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Trump said he apprised some of the nation's allies in Europe of the meeting's content.

"Everyone agrees this war must come to a close," he said, "and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come."

The president also said he would meet with Putin as early as next week and afterward wants to meet with Putin and Zelensky at the same time, The New York Times reported.

Trump and Zelensky spoke by phone after the Witkoff-Putin meeting and said "it seems Russia is more inclined toward [a] cease-fire," as reported by CNN.

Putin called the meeting "constructive and useful," Russian state media outlet TASS reported.

"Putin conveyed some signals to the United States on the Ukrainian issue," the Kremlin told state-controlled RIA Novosti.

Witkoff and Putin met for about three hours after Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on nations that buy oil from Russia if a cease-fire isn't declared by Friday.

He also announced a 25% tariff on India for buying and reselling "massive amounts of Russian oil" and intends to increase the tariff to 50% in three weeks, The Washington Post reported.

Trump says such trade with Russia funds its war against Ukraine, which Russia started on Feb. 24, 2022.