White House begins preparations for Putin-Zelensky meeting

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that he began preparations for Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Vladimir Zelensky, which is supposed to be followed by their trilateral talks.

"At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky. After that meeting takes place, we will have a trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself," Trump wrote on the Truth Social media platform.

According to the U.S. leader, "this was a very good, early step" for ending the conflict.

U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio said that the U.S. is working to arrange a meeting for the Ukrainian and Russian leaders.

"The President suggested that Zelensky and Putin meet, so we’re working on that now to try to set that up for them to meet somewhere, which, again, would be unprecedented. And then if that goes well, hopefully the next meeting will be a meeting between Presidents Putin, Trump, and Zelensky, where we hope to finalise a deal," Rubio said.

According to the U.S. officials, Putin and Zelensky could meet within just two weeks.