U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he will “probably” meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month to discuss ending the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The announcement came shortly after U.S. and Russian officials held talks in Riyadh aimed at resolving the crisis.
During a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, President Trump dismissed concerns from Ukraine about being excluded from the negotiations. He criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for not reaching an agreement with Russia in the past three years.
“Today I heard, ‘Oh, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years; you should have ended it… you should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” Trump remarked, referring to President Zelenskyy. He went on to describe Zelenskyy as an inadequate negotiator and “grossly incompetent.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed the potential meeting between Trump and Putin, calling the talks in Riyadh a “very, very important step” toward settling the conflict in Ukraine.
“In order to carry out, figuratively speaking, resuscitation measures, diplomats will now begin to work in light of the agreement Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reached yesterday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio,” Peskov stated. “But this is the first step… naturally, it’s impossible to fix everything in one day or a week. There is a long way to go.”
President Trump also indicated he would not oppose the deployment of European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine. “Having troops over there would be fine; I wouldn’t object to it at all,” he said. However, he clarified that the United States would not participate, adding, “because we’re very far away.”
Earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the United States and Russia had reached an agreement on four principles after extensive talks in Saudi Arabia. This includes the establishment of a high-level team to help “negotiate and work through the end of the conflict in Ukraine in a way that’s enduring and acceptable to all the parties engaged.”
The meeting in Saudi Arabia signals a potential thaw in relations between Washington and Moscow since President Trump took office in January.
In response, President Zelenskyy canceled his scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia, citing his desire to avoid “coincidences.” He emphasized the need for “certain security guarantees” before any peace negotiations can proceed. “We are completely honest and open. That’s why I don’t want any ‘coincidences.’ That’s why I won’t go to Saudi Arabia,” Zelenskyy told reporters during his visit to Ankara.
