Putin and Trump meeting expected to take place in 2 weeks, but there are still ‘many issues’ to be resolved, says Kremlin

B2 military plane flies over American military base after Trump and Putin arrive in Alaska The Kremlin said on Friday that the new summit between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, announced on Thursday (16) by the president of the United States, could take place within two weeks or more. However, the Russian government also said that “a lot remains to be defined” before an exact date can be set. ✅ Follow g1’s international news channel on WhatsApp Trump and Putin agreed on Thursday to another summit on the war in Ukraine, a surprise decision that came on the eve of a meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as Washington considers supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kiev. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would need to meet to resolve several pre-summit issues. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, spoke on the phone this Thursday (16) with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin. They spoke again after two months, when they both met in person in Alaska. On his Truth Social network, Trump announced that the two agreed to meet again in person in Budapest, Hungary. Next week, in a location not yet confirmed, advisors from both will meet to try to reach an agreement that leads to peace between Russia and Ukraine. “I just concluded my telephone conversation with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, and it was very productive. The president congratulated me and the United States on the great achievement of peace in the Middle East, something that, according to him, had been dreamed of for centuries. (…) We also spent a lot of time talking about trade between Russia and the United States after the end of the war with Ukraine. (…) I believe that today’s telephone conversation was great progress,” he said. Putin and Trump meeting in Alaska REUTERS/Nathaniel Wilder The phone call takes place one day before Trump’s meeting on Friday (17) at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was also mentioned in the post. He has been pressuring Trump to sell Tomahawk missiles to Kiev, which would allow Ukrainian forces to carry out strikes on targets further away from Russian territory. Zelensky argued that such attacks would help Putin take more seriously Trump’s calls for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine to end the war between the two countries, which began in February 2022. Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev also praised the outcome of the call. He said it was “productive and positive, and clearly defined the next steps of the negotiations.” A White House spokesperson revealed to reporters that the conversation lasted more than two hours and that the American president believes it is still possible to bring together the Russian and Ukrainian presidents. Trump had told reporters traveling with him to Israel on Sunday that he planned to discuss sending Tomahawks with Putin as a way of pressuring him to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. “Do they want the Tomahawks to go in that direction? I don’t think so,” Trump said Sunday. “I think I can talk to Russia about this.” The promise to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza was central to Trump’s 2024 campaign speech, when he harshly criticized then-President Joe Biden for his handling of the conflicts. However, like his predecessor, Trump has also had his ambitions to broker an agreement frustrated by Putin so far.

Source link