Putin proposes Trump summit, meeting possible as early as next week with US President saying ‘really soon’

Citing two White House officials, CNN reported that the proposal was brought up during three hour talks in Moscow between the Russian President and Trump’s special envoy Stephen Witkoff, with the American side quickly going into overdrive planning of the tete-a-tete as early as next week.

Notwithstanding the natural complexity of organising such high level meetings, Trump appears to have instructed a fast track process, so everything can be in place over the next few days or over two weeks at the latest.

White House Press spokeswoman Caroline Levitt noted that the ‘The Russian side has conveyed its wish for a Putin-Trump meeting, with the President open to such a meeting, both with the Russian President as well as Ukraine leader Zelenskyi. President Trump wants an end to this war’.

According to the New York Times, the first to disclose the possibility of such a summit, the US President, should the Putin talks materialise, is then planning a trilateral with Zelenskyi. Some circles suggest that the acceptance of the Zelenskyi meeting is actually a condition for the Putin talks.

European leaders were made privy to the plan and the response appears to have been positive, even though the EU has been excluded.

Trump referred to ‘a good chance of a Putin meeting’, without disclosing any timeline or venue details. He refrained from commenting on the possibility of a war ending deal, stating that ‘Putin has already disappointed me’.

The US President described the Putin-Witkoff talks as constructive, with the American move to approach the Russia-Ukraine directly, intensifying diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire through US mediation.