Trump eyes Zelenskyy-Putin meeting as Kremlin seeks ceasefire talks

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is advancing negotiations with both Ukraine and Russia that are raising hopes, as well as concerns, among Ukrainians at home and abroad about the direction of a potential truce in the ongoing war. 

His special envoy, Steve Witkoff,  met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 6 at the Kremlin for a nearly three-hour discussion in what Trump described as “highly productive” and said that “great progress” was made.

Trump continued: “Afterwards, I updated some of our European allies. Everyone agrees this war must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and to this matter!” Trump wrote.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke with Trump and European leaders about Witkoff’s visit to Moscow, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

“Our joint position with our partners is absolutely clear — the war must end,” Zelenskyy said.

He said that Russia is now more open to a ceasefire, saying “pressure on them is working” during an evening address to Ukrainians.

“But the key is to ensure they don’t deceive either us or the United States in the details. We have proposed that soon our representatives — from Ukraine and its partners, including security advisors — hold talks to define our joint position and common view,” Zelenskyy said.

The New York Times reported that the U.S. president plans to meet with Putin next week, followed by a trilateral meeting with Zelenskyy.

“We had some very good talks with President Putin today. And, there’s a very good chance that we could be ending the – ending the round – ending the end of that road. That road was long and continues to be long. But, there’s a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon,” Trump said during a White House briefing.

Officials at the White House said that the initiative to hold the meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents came from the Russian side.