US leader Donald Trump says he will meet the Russian president even if Vladimir Putin refuses to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mr Trump, when asked whether Putin would need to meet Mr Zelensky to secure a meeting with the US, said: “No, he doesn’t. No.”
Mr Putin has said he hopes to meet Donald Trump next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates.
Earlier, a Kremlin aide confirmed the pair would discuss a ceasefire in the Ukraine war.
Despite Mr Trump suggesting there was “a good chance” of a summit involving Mr Zelensky, Mr Ushakov said that a trilateral meeting “was for some reason mentioned by Washington” but had not been discussed with the Kremlin.
The venue for the meeting has been decided and is due to be announced later, he added.
A face-to-face meeting would be the first between a sitting US and Russian president since Joe Biden met Mr Putin in Geneva in June 2021, eight months before Russia launched the biggest attack on a European nation since the Second World War.
Analysis: A Trump-Putin summit will be as useful to Ukraine and democracy as Agent Orange is for gardening
A long-overdue summit between the presidents of the United States and the Russian Federation to discuss peace in Ukraine, where nuclear war has been threatened, must be seen as a historic moment for optimism.
Except that from London to Langley, Berlin, Canberra and Tokyo, intelligence chiefs will be on tenterhooks wondering whether this is another occasion resembling the meeting between an agent and his handler.
There’s no evidence that Donald Trump works for Vladimir Putin. But there is ample evidence that the US president favours Putin’s agenda. And that he has done all he can to hobble Ukraine while it attempts to defend itself against a Russian invasion of Europe’s eastern flank.
British father killed by Russian drone in Ukraine – report
A British man who volunteered to fight in Ukraine has been killed within a month of signing up, his wife has said.
Alan Robert Williams, 35, was killed on his first mission in Ukraine where he signed up to fight despite having no military experience, his wife Stephanie Boyce-Williams told The Telegraph.
He left from Moreton, Merseyside, on 7 May to fight Russian forces in Ukraine’s Kharkiv after losing his job, she said.
Boyce-Williams added that she and their 12-year-old daughter urged him to not go to the war-hit country. They lost contact with him on 2 July when he left for his first battlefield deployment.
Williams was targeted by four Russian drones, sources said, according to the report. The Russian drones dropped a mortar 20ft from his team near the recaptured village of Lyptsi, six miles from the Russian border.
His companions from the military unit said Williams was immediately unresponsive and they had to leave his body to escape the Russian ambush.
Williams has been officially declared as Missing in Action as his remains have not been retrieved, the report added.
Could Trump’s ceasefire summit with Putin actually achieve a breakthrough?
Both the White House and the Kremlin have confirmed that a US-Russia summit will take place in the coming days, with reports suggesting a possible three-way meeting that would also include Ukraine’s president Zelensky. The news follows three hours of talks between Vladimir Putin and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, following his fourth visit to Moscow.
If either summit happens, this could mark the most progress towards ending the war since Donald Trump came to office and pledged, unsuccessfully, to end the conflict within 24 hours. But this trilateral encounter is another high-stakes gamble.
Top-level diplomacy does not usually happen like this. The lead time for an old-fashioned US-Russia summit would commonly be months, with the Kremlin in particular favouring meticulous preparation. So what has changed?
Russian official says Trump and Putin may meet next week but not aware of any Zelensky meeting
Russian president Vladimir Putin may meet with US president Donald Trump next week, Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said but added that he was not aware of any planned meeting between Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
“As far as I heard, there are a number of locations, but they agreed to something that they don’t want to disclose. The timeline is, I think, next week, but that’s again judging from what presidents said themselves,” Polyanskiy told reporters about the Putin-Trump meeting.
“I haven’t heard about any meeting planned with president Zelensky, but I am not in the loop,” he added. There has been no summit of US and Russian leaders since Putin and former president Joe Biden met in Geneva in June 2021.
Explained: How would Trump-Putin talks compare to other historic summits?
News of this meeting came on the eve of a White House deadline for Moscow to show progress toward ending the war in Ukraine or suffer additional economic sanctions.
Hopes are up, but most successful summit meetings start from a better place than this…
Sean O’Grady explains:
Watch: Trump says ‘good chance’ Putin will agree to summit
Security advisers to continue talks
Security advisers from Ukraine’s allies have held lengthy talks, which will continue on Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky says.
The president posted: “Just now, my team reported to me that the security advisers held quite a lengthy and very detailed conversation.
“There was a significant lineup of participants in the discussion. This is important.
“I thank everyone for their work and for their genuine desire to stop the killing and ensure a lasting peace.
“It was agreed during the conversation to continue tomorrow, there is still much work to be done. Ukraine, as always, will work productively – we need a dignified peace.”
Zelensky discusses financial aid with IMF
Volodymyr Zelensky has discussed a new financial assistance programme with the International Monetary Fund chief.
“We discussed a new programme of financial assistance that will strengthen Ukrainians now and in the post-war period,” Mr Zelensky wrote.
“We are prepared to carry out the necessary steps quickly. The government is already working on this.”
IMF boss Kristalina Georgieva confirmed what she called a productive call. She said they discussed Ukraine’s economic outlook, the resilience of the Ukrainian people and “the importance of reforms and financial assistance to support Ukraine now and during reconstruction”.
Kyiv is working to cover a widening budget deficit.
Ukraine’s current $15.5billion programme with the IMF expires in 2027.
Putin talks to South African leader
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa held a phone call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine crisis and issues of bilateral interest, Ramaphosa’s office said.
“The discussion followed President Putin’s request to brief President Ramaphosa on the peace process with Ukraine and to engage on issues of mutual bilateral interest,” a statement read.
Putin says he hopes to meet Trump
Russian president Vladimir Putin has said he hopes to meet next week with Donald Trump, possibly in the United Arab Emirates – although a White House official cast doubt on the summit occurring unless the Kremlin leader also agreed to a meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Speaking of possible direct talks with Mr Zelensky, Mr Putin said he had mentioned several times that he was not against it, adding: “It’s a possibility, but certain conditions need to be created” for it to happen.
He made the announcement in the Kremlin after meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE.
Asked who initiated the possible talks with the American president, Mr Putin said that didn’t matter and “both sides expressed an interest”.
