WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, either one-on-one or alongside President Trump, a top Kremlin official said Tuesday — without committing to a timetable.
“We do not reject any forms of work, neither bilateral nor trilateral. Russian President Putin has repeatedly spoken about this,” Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov told Moscow-owned broadcaster VGTRK.
Putin has rejected attempts by Zelensky to meet face-to-face for the entirety of the 41-month-old war, but the White House insisted Tuesday that talks would happen after Trump met Putin in Alaska on Friday and discussed the way forward with Zelensky and other European leaders at the White House Monday.
Lavrov added that any meeting, whether “1+1” or “1+2,” should be undertaken with a “serious approach” and not simply intended to make headlines.
“Any contacts with the participation of top officials must be prepared with the utmost care,” he stressed.
Trump said Monday that he had spoken to Putin during the meeting with Zelensky and the Europeans and the Russia leader had said he was ready to talk with his Ukrainian counterpart.
“Following the encouraging conversations yesterday, President Trump spoke with President Putin by phone, and he agreed to begin the next phase of the peace process, a meeting between President Putin and President Zelensky, which would be followed if necessary by a trilateral meeting between President Putin, President Zelensky and President Trump,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday.
A location and date for any meeting has not yet been determined.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters Monday after leaving the White House that “there would be a meeting between the Russian president and the Ukrainian president within the next two weeks.”
French President Emmanuel Macron floated the possibility of neutral Switzerland hosting the next round of talks, saying Tuesday he was “pushing for Geneva.”
Putin also invited Trump to personally come to Moscow for their next conversation after Friday’s summit, but that visit would likely come after peace talks conclude.
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