A senior Kremlin aide announced that Donald Trump is set to meet Vladimir Putin, marking what would be the first in-person encounter between an American and Russian President in several years.
“At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement has been reached in principle to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days,” Russian news agencies were informed on Thursday.
Trump had recently indicated that a meeting could occur soon. “We had some very productive talks with President Putin today and there’s a strong chance that we could be concluding that path,” he stated in the Oval Office on Wednesday evening.
Ushakov mentioned that a venue for the meeting has already been chosen, with details to be disclosed later. He did not specify when this information would be released.
However, Ushakov also downplayed the likelihood of a potential trilateral meeting that included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, an idea proposed by Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, according to .
Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow on Wednesday in what Trump characterized as a “highly productive meeting” .
“We propose, first and foremost, to concentrate on preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump and we consider it most important that this meeting proves successful and productive,” Ushakov said.
This news comes following President Trump’s deadline for Russia to agree to a cease-fire deal with Ukraine or face punitive sanctions. It remains unclear if Trump’s cease-fire deadline is still in effect.
Trump was questioned on July 14 about the extent he’d be willing to go to defend Ukraine if Putin escalated attacks despite his cease-fire deadline, which was originally set for September 2 before being moved up to Friday.
“I want to see the war settled … I have a concern, and [Vice President] J.D. [Vance] has a concern—they’re not Americans dying, but many people are dying over something that should be settled,” he said.
Trump has previously faced criticism for his approach to Putin, whom Western officials accuse of delaying negotiations to allow Russian forces to capture more Ukrainian territory.
Putin has consistently given little indication of willingness to offer concessions.
On Thursday, at least six people were killed and another 35 injured across Ukraine as Russia launched overnight attacks in the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.
The attacks were part of 723 strikes across 12 settlements in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in the last 24 hours, according to regional .