plan raises hopes of peace today's ceasefire deadline

DONALD Trump is set to meet Vladimir Putin next week for a meeting which the US President claims will open the pathway to peace in Ukraine.

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In a major breakthrough seconded by the Kremlin, Mr Trump said there was a “good chance” of a face-to-face meeting with the Russian tyrant for the first time since 2018.

Possible locations for the summit are limited because Putin has been indicted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court.

The 2023 indictment means Putin is subject to arrest in 125 countries including Britain, France, Spain, Iceland, Switzerland, Malta and Austria, which all hosted Cold War-era summits between US and Soviet leaders.

But the despot said the United Arab Emirates would be a “suitable location” after meeting its president in Moscow yesterday.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said: “At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement was agreed in principle to hold a bilateral summit in the coming days — that is, a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.”

US envoy Steve Witkoff had suggested a trilateral meeting to include Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with Kremlin officials on Wednesday — the fourth such round of behind-closed-doors talks.

Positive

However, that appeared to be a bridge too far for Russia. Ushakov said: “As for the option of a trilateral meeting, this option was simply mentioned by the American representative. But this option was not specifically discussed.