Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was ready to hold one-on-one talks with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to end the war. The Ukrainian President said that he was ready to meet with Putin in any type of format without preconditions. Mr. Zelenskyy made the comments to reporters following talks with US President Donald Trump and European leaders at the White House. After the meeting, US President Donald Trump announced plans to arrange face-to-face talks between the Presidents Putin and Zelensky to help end the war in Ukraine. He said preparations are underway, with the location yet to be decided, and added that a trilateral summit with all three leaders will follow.
Later, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer stressed that no decision should be made about Ukraine without its involvement. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron both urged Donald Trump to press Russia for a ceasefire. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen repeated calls for the return of Ukrainian children taken by Russia.
Meanwhile in a related development, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has confirmed today that US President Donald Trump has received a formal invitation to visit Moscow. During last week’s summit in Alaska Russian President Vladimir Putin extended the invitation to Trump in person.