Trump, after skipping Russia-Ukraine peace talks, wants to meet Putin ‘as soon as we can set it up’
President Donald Trump on Friday informed reporters he wants to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the war in Ukraine as soon as we can set it up The president speaking from Abu Dhabi during the last stop of his four-day Middle East tour mentioned I think it s time for us to just do it Trump had explained earlier that a meeting between him and Putin was crucial to developing the deadlock Putin spurned an offer this week by Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face for peace talks in Istanbul Trump noted he didn t think Putin would show up if he didn t attend the talks himself RUBIO DOUBTS 'ANYTHING PRODUCTIVE' WILL HAPPEN IN UKRAINE PEACE TALKS TRUMP PUTIN I announced you know they all commented Putin was going Zelensky was going and I commented if I don't go I guarantee Putin's not going And he didn't go Trump described reporters Friday When requested for a timeline Trump mentioned as soon as we can set it up In place of Zelenskyy and Putin a Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is expected to meet with a low-level Russian gang headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky Authorities and observers expect these talks to yield little immediate progress on stopping the more than three-year war between Russia and Ukraine RUBIO TAKES SOMBER TONE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE PEACE DEAL 'CLOSE BUT NOT CLOSE ENOUGH'The two sides are far apart in their conditions for ending the war Ukraine has accepted a U S and European proposal for a full -day ceasefire but Putin has effectively rejected it by imposing far-reaching conditions Meanwhile Ukrainian establishment and Western military analysts allege that Russian forces are preparing a fresh military offensive After Putin declined Zelenskyy's challenge to sit down with him in the Turkish capital on Thursday the Ukrainian president accused Moscow of not making a serious effort to end the war by sending a low-level negotiating club that he described as a theater prop PUTIN SENDING FOREIGN MINISTER TO SAUDI ARABIA FOR TALKS WITH TRUMP OFFICIALSEven so Zelenskyy explained that he was sending a crew headed by his defense minister to Friday's meeting in Istanbul That would show Trump that Ukraine is determined to press ahead with peace efforts despite Russian foot-dragging Zelenskyy reported amid intense diplomatic maneuvering by Kyiv and Moscow The Russian delegation also includes three other senior functionaries the Kremlin noted Putin also appointed four lower-level officers as experts for the talks Ahead of Friday s talks a three-way meeting between Turkey the U S and Ukraine also took place per Turkish Foreign Ministry authorities The U S side included Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well as retired Lt Gen Keith Kellogg Rubio on Thursday announced he did not foresee any major breakthroughs in Istanbul We don't have high expectations of what will happen the following morning And frankly at this point I think it's abundantly clear that the only way we're going to have a breakthrough here is between President Trump and President Putin Rubio narrated reporters Thursday in Antalya Turkey
