Trump 'open' to meeting leaders of Ukraine and Russia to push ceasefire

Warring sides fail to make headway in talks but agree to another large-scale prisoner exchange

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ISTANBUL - US President Donald Trump is "open" to meeting his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in Turkey, the White House said, after the two sides failed on June 2 to make headway towards an elusive ceasefire.

Delegations from both sides did, however, agree to another large-scale prisoner exchange in their meeting in Istanbul, which in mid-May also hosted their first round of face-to-face talks.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed that Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Mr. Trump come together for a third round later in June in either Istanbul or Ankara.

Mr. Putin has thus far refused such a meeting. But Mr. Zelensky has said he is willing, underlining that key issues can be resolved only at the leaders' level.

Mr. Trump, who wants a swift end to the three-year-old war, "is open to it (a three-way summit) if it comes to that, but he wants both of these leaders and both sides to come to the table together," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in Washington.

Mr. Zelensky said "we really expect Trump to take strong steps," and urged the US leader to toughen sanctions on Russia to "push" it to agree to a full ceasefire.

In the meeting on June 2, Ukraine said Moscow had rejected its call for an unconditional ceasefire. It offered instead a partial truce of two to three days in some areas of the front line.