Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump and Putin to meet ‘in coming days’ but no sign Zelensky will be invited – UK Times

A face-to-face meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would be the first between a sitting US and Russian president since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.

This came eight months before Russia launched the biggest attack on a European nation since the Second World War.

Trump himself last met Putin in Helsinki in 2018 where the two men held nearly two hours of closed-door talks in the capital city.

In March this year, Putin gifted Trump a portrait of the US president commissioned by him and sent via Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff when he was in Moscow for a meeting.

Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky have not met since December 2019 and make no secret of their contempt for each other.

However, Zelensky has issued open invitations to his Russian counterpart for a face-to-face meeting to negotiate an end to the war.

Chris Stevenson explains why Ukraine launched an audacious cross-border attack on Putin’s forces in Russia:

The US has a better understanding of the conditions under which Russia would be prepared to end its war in Ukraine after president Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met with Vladimir Putin, secretary of state Marco Rubio said.

The key elements of any ceasefire agreement would involve territory, he said.

“For the first time perhaps since this administration began, we have some concrete examples of the kinds of things that Russia would ask for in order to end the war,” Rubio said in an interview with Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow”.

Russia is now more inclined to agree to a ceasefire in the Ukraine war, president Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday.

In a social media post yesterday evening, Zelensky said he and Donald Trump spoke on the phone after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Vladimir Putin.

He said “European leaders also participated in the conversation,” and “we discussed what was said in Moscow.”

“It seems that Russia is now more inclined to agree to a ceasefire,” Mr Zelensky said, adding that the pressure on Moscow “is working,” without elaborating.

The Ukrainian war-time leader stressed it was important to make sure Russia does not “deceive us or the United States” when it comes to “the details” of a potential agreement.

Kyiv proposes that Ukraine and its allies soon “talk to determine our position, our common position, and our common view.”

If the proposed bilateral talks between the US and Russia go beyond a ceasefire in Ukraine and encompass wider issues of security, that might be sufficient to convince Putin to show up – and even invite Zelensky along, too, says Mary Dejevsky:

• The Kremlin confirmed Trump and Putin will hold a meeting ‘in coming days’
• But no plans were confirmed to invite Zelensky, despite Trump making this a condition of a US-Russia meeting
• In response, Russia’s stock market index rose 4.5 percent
• Zelensky spoke to European leaders. He discussed peace and Ukrainian membership to the EU with Commission chief von der Leyen and said Europe must participate in Ukraine peace process after a call with Germany
• Trump’s new import tariffs are now in force against scores of countries. A separate 25 percent tariff for India will be imposed in 21 days over the country’s purchases of Russian oil – bringing the total to 50 percent
• A Russian security official met India’s national security adviser and stressed a ‘strategic partnership’. Putin is also reportedly visiting India soon

• Russia launched 112 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy drones overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. At least 6 people were killed and 35 injured in Russia attacks
• Ukraine claimed a strike on Russia’s Afipsky oil refinery
• Russia says it shot down eight Storm Shadow missiles

Putin touted the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a potential location for the summit.

With the venue yet to be announced, all eyes are on where the two presidents could meet.

This toxic relationship is weird and dangerous for the West. World affairs editor Sam Kiley explains why:

With the summit venue yet to be announced, all eyes are on where the two presidents could meet.

Here, The Independent looks at the countries that could set the stage for the momentous occasion: