President Trump takes questions from reporters throughout an occasion within the Oval Workplace of the White Home on March 31, 2025.
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Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures
President Trump stated on Friday that he plans to fulfill Russian President Vladimir Putin “very shortly” to speak a couple of plan to finish Russia’s struggle in Ukraine.
Trump advised reporters he would announce the date and site quickly — presumably as early as Friday — however stated he was making an attempt to not overshadow a separate settlement he had brokered between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Trump stated a deal to finish the struggle in Ukraine would contain some change of territory. “It’s very complicated. But we’re going to get some [territory] back, and we’re going to get some switched. There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but we’ll be talking about that either later, or tomorrow,” Trump stated.
Putin final met with a U.S. president in 2021, when he sat down with President Joe Biden in Geneva. Trump final met Putin in 2019 on the sidelines of the G20 in Osaka, Japan.
The long-awaited assembly comes after the sophisticated relationship between Trump and Putin has seen ups and downs over the previous a number of months.
Trump got here into workplace promising to shortly finish the struggle, boasting that his relationship with Putin would assist attain a peace deal.
For months, he resisted placing a lot strain on Putin, saying he didn’t need to complicate the trail to a peace settlement. However extra just lately, Trump’s posture has shifted as Russia escalated its strikes in opposition to Ukraine. Trump has threatened harder sanctions in opposition to Moscow, saying this week that he would apply steep tariffs on India — a key purchaser of Russian oil.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin on Aug. 6 in Moscow, and afterward, Trump stated progress had been made. “There is a good chance we could be coming to an end of this 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 stated.
Officers in Kyiv and throughout Europe have accused Moscow of stalling as its troops proceed to advance in Jap Ukraine. Ukraine has additionally launched shock drone strikes deep into Russia.
When Russian and Ukrainian officers met in Turkey in Might for his or her first direct peace talks in years, Putin failed to indicate up. Trump advised reporters in Might that he thought it could be essential for him to fulfill with Putin.
“I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together,” Trump stated. “But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”