NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump has said that a bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky is bei...
NEW YORK: US President Donald Trump has said that a bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky is being set up.
"I had a very successful meeting with President Putin. I had a very successful meeting with President Zelensky. And now I thought it would be better if they met without me, just to see… I want to see what goes on," Trump said in an interview with American journalist Mark Levin. "They're in the process of setting it [the possible meeting] up, and we're going to see what happens," he added.
Trump also expressed optimism about resolving the conflict in Ukraine. "You have to be a little bit optimistic," he said when asked a respective question.
Meanwhile the American leader noted that resolving the Ukrainian crisis turned out to be more difficult than he had expected.
On August 18, Trump held meetings with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky and EU leaders. After those talks, Trump called his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. In a 40-minute phone call, the US leader discussed holding a one-on-one between Putin and Zelensky to be followed by a trilateral meeting with Trump present. Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov said that the Russian and US leaders supported the idea of holding additional direct meetings between Moscow and Kiev as they also considered elevating them to a higher level.
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