President Donald Trump told European leaders Wednesday he intends to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in person and later hold a trilateral with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — suggesting Trump still sees a possibility of ending the conflict through diplomacy.
A German official told POLITICO that the U.S. president informed European leaders of this plan during a Wednesday call. On this call were German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Zelenskyy, and other leaders. The official was granted anonymity to discuss the contents of the high-level phone call between Trump and European counterparts.
No U.S. president has met with Putin since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, though Trump has held several phone calls with the Russian leader since taking office.
The New York Times previously reported on the plan for the meeting, which the Times said will occur as soon as next week. The German official did not provide any details on the timing of the planned meetings.
The White House has not confirmed such a proposal was outlined with the European leaders. Earlier Wednesday, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Trump remained open to the prospect of meeting with Putin, but declined to say whether such a proposal was outlined in the phone call.
Putin met with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow earlier Wednesday and Trump described that three-hour meeting at the Kremlin as “highly productive.”
It’s unclear what the planned meeting with Putin means for Trump’s Friday deadline for imposing sanctions against countries who purchase Russian energy – which he has said he will do to punish Moscow if it doesn’t make more progress towards a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the European leaders’ call.
Trump pledged to end the war in Ukraine “on day one” of his second presidency. But Russia has stymied peace talks, infuriating both Ukrainian and American negotiators by continuing to conduct airstrikes on civilian targets in Ukraine. Trump threatened in July to impose hefty new sanctions and secondary measures to punish the Russian economy, targeting oil sales that have allowed it to stay economically afloat despite becoming a global economic pariah since the invasion.
