A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0has been agreed, a Kremlin official said Thursday, the eve of a\u00a0White House deadline\u00a0for Moscow to show progress toward ending the 3-year-old\u00a0war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Putin\u2019s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said a summit could possibly take place next week at a venue that has been decided \u201cin principle.\u201d<\/p>\n
He brushed aside the possibility of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joining the summit, something the White House\u00a0had said Trump was ready to consider. Putin has\u00a0spurned Zelenskyy\u2019s previous offers\u00a0of a meeting to clinch a breakthrough.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe propose, first of all, to focus on preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump, and we consider it most important that this meeting be successful and productive,\u201d Ushakov said, adding that U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff’s suggestion of a meeting including Ukraine’s leader \u201cwas not specifically discussed.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was not clear how the announcement of the meeting would affect Trump’s Friday deadline for Russia to stop the killing or face\u00a0heavy economic sanctions.<\/p>\n
The meeting would be the first U.S.-Russia summit since 2021, when former President Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva. It would be a significant milestone toward\u00a0Trump\u2019s effort\u00a0to end the war, although there\u2019s no guarantee it would stop the fighting since Moscow and Kyiv remain\u00a0far apart on their conditions for peace.<\/p>\n
Next week is the target date for a summit, Ushakov said, while noting that such events take time to organize and no date is confirmed. The possible venue will be announced \u201ca little later,” he said.<\/p>\n
Months of U.S.-led efforts have\u00a0yielded no progress\u00a0on stopping Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. The war has killed tens of thousands of troops on both sides as well as more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations.<\/p>\n
Western officials have repeatedly accused Putin of stalling for time in peace negotiations to allow Russian forces time to capture more Ukrainian land. Putin previously has offered no concessions and will\u00a0only accept a settlement on his terms.<\/p>\n
A meeting between Putin and Trump on the war would be a departure from the Biden administration\u2019s policy of \u201cnothing about Ukraine without Ukraine\u201d \u2014 a key demand from Kyiv.<\/p>\n
At the start of his second term, Trump was conciliatory toward Putin, for whom he has long shown admiration, and even echoed some of his talking points on the war. But he recently has expressed\u00a0increasing exasperation with Putin, criticizing the Kremlin leader for his\u00a0unyielding stance\u00a0on U.S.-led peace efforts, and has threatened Moscow with new sanctions.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy focus es on the details<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy said he planned calls with European leaders Thursday to discuss the latest developments.<\/p>\n
A ceasefire and long-term security guarantees are priorities in potential negotiation with Russia, he said on social media.<\/p>\n
Securing a truce, deciding a format for a summit and providing assurances for Ukraine\u2019s future protection from invasion \u2014 a consideration that must involve the U.S. and Europe \u2014 are crucial aspects to address, Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n
He noted that Russian strikes on civilians haven’t eased off despite Trump publicly urging Putin to relent.<\/p>\n
A Russian attack Wednesday in the central Dnipro region killed four people and injured eight others, he said.<\/p>\n
Poll shows support for continuing the fight waning in Ukraine<\/p>\n
A\u00a0new Gallup poll\u00a0published Thursday found that Ukrainians are increasingly eager for a settlement that ends the fight against Russia\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n
The enthusiasm for a negotiated deal is a sharp reversal from 2022 \u2014 the year the war began \u2014 when Gallup found that about three-quarters of Ukrainians wanted to keep fighting until victory. Now only about one-quarter hold that view, with support for continuing the war declining steadily across all regions and demographic groups.<\/p>\n
The findings were based on samples of 1,000 or more respondents ages 15 and older living in Ukraine. Some territories under entrenched Russian control, representing about 10% of the population, were excluded from surveys conducted after 2022 due to lack of access.<\/p>\n
Since the start of the full-scale war, Russia\u2019s relentless\u00a0pounding of urban areas\u00a0behind the front line has killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations. On the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line snaking from northeast to southeast Ukraine, where tens of thousands of troops on both sides have died, Russia\u2019s bigger army is\u00a0slowly capturing more land.<\/p>\n
In the new Gallup survey, conducted in early July, about seven in 10 Ukrainians say their country should seek to negotiate a settlement as soon as possible. Zelenskyy last month renewed his offer to meet with Putin, but his overture was rebuffed.<\/p>\n
Most Ukrainians do not expect a lasting peace anytime soon, the poll found. Only about one-quarter say it\u2019s \u201cvery\u201d or \u201csomewhat\u201d likely that active fighting will end within the next 12 months, while about seven in 10 think it\u2019s \u201csomewhat\u201d or \u201cvery\u201d unlikely that active fighting will be over in the next year.<\/p>\n
Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Amelia Thomson-Deveaux contributed from Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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