Putin and Zelensky to meet following talks with Trump

Russian and Ukrainian presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky looked set for a peace summit after fast-moving talks Monday between Donald Trump and European leaders that focused on the key issue of long-term security guarantees for Kyiv.

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Hopes of a breakthrough rose after Trump said he had spoken by phone with Russian counterpart Putin -- whom he met in Alaska last week -- following a “very good” meeting with the Europeans and the Ukrainian president at the White House.

It would be the first meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders since Moscow’s brutal invasion nearly three and a half years ago, and comes as Trump tries to live up to his promise to quickly end the war.

Trump, 79, wrote on his Truth Social network that “everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine.”

“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,” Trump said.

Trump said he would then hold a three-way summit with the Ukrainian and Russian leaders.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Putin had agreed to the bilateral meeting within the next two weeks, but there was no confirmation of a date or location.

ZELENSKY ‘READY’ TO MEET PUTIN

Zelensky confirmed to reporters outside the White House he was “ready” for a bilateral with bitter foe Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine has led to tens of thousands of deaths.