Trump Floats Meeting with Putin to Discuss Ending Russia-Ukraine War

Russia has been defiant in its response to Trump's warnings, saying it won't be swayed by ultimatums

- Matthew Luxmoore, Alexander Ward & Alex Leary

President Trump said there was a "good chance" he would meet soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine, after an offer Russia made Wednesday during a trip to Moscow by special envoy Steve Witkoff.

"There's a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon," Trump said at the White House. He said it wasn't clear Putin was prepared to make peace: "I wouldn't call it a breakthrough" but a product of weeks of negotiations, he said. "We're here to get it stopped and get the deaths stopped," he added.

Trump is also open to meeting together with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, people familiar with the president's plans said. It isn't clear when and where the meetings would take place.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Putin had provided Witkoff "concrete examples" of conditions for Russia to agree to peace. "We got to bring the two sides close enough so that the ultimate closer, President Trump can get involved and make it happen," Rubio said in an interview on Fox Business.

The meeting would be among the most dramatic moments yet of Trump's second term.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump said in a social-media post that there wouldn't be a cease-fire by the Friday deadline he had set.

Trump will have an additional challenge. He will need to sidestep concerns that Putin would use the meeting to avoid the threat of sanctions on Russia's energy customers and prolong peace negotiations so he can continue attacking Ukraine. Critics had long suggested Putin would dangle the prospect of a one-on-one meeting to extinguish Trump's ire, which had grown after months of excuses for not signing a peace deal.