Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates — President Trump said Friday that he’s moving to set up direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as he can, after Putin opted to skip peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey.
“I think it’s time for us to just do it,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he wrapped a four-day visit to the Middle East. Later, he told reporters on Air Force One, setting off on the journey back to Washington, that he might call Putin soon.
“He and I will meet, and I think we’ll solve it or maybe not,” Mr. Trump said. “At least we’ll know. And if we don’t solve it, it’ll be very interesting.”
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The president reiterated that he wasn’t surprised by Putin’s decision to skip the talks taking place Friday in Turkey. Putin didn’t want to go because he’s not there, Mr. Trump said.
Meetings between Ukrainian and Russian delegations did get underway in Istanbul Friday, but there was little expectation of any breakthrough as Putin sent a lower-level delegation, drawing accusations from Ukraine and its European partners that Moscow wasn’t really interested in a negotiated resolution to the war.
Mr. Trump said he would hold a meeting with Putin, “as soon as we can set it up.”
“I would actually leave here and go,” he said, noting that his daughter Tiffany just gave birth to her first child. “I do want to see my beautiful grandson.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to take part in the talks as Mr. Trump pressed for the leaders to find a solution to the war, ongoing since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But Putin spurned the call to meet face-to-face with Zelenskyy.
Mr. Trump has pressed both sides to quickly come to an agreement to end the war. Zelenskyy has agreed to an American plan for an initial 30-day halt to hostilities, but Russia has not signed on and has continued to strike at targets inside Ukraine.
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“He didn’t go, and I understand that,” Mr. Trump said Friday of Putin’s decision to skip the talks in Istanbul. “We’re going to get it done. We got to get it done. Five thousand young people are being killed every single week on average, and we’re going to get it done.”
The U.S. president told reporters on Thursday that a meeting between himself and Putin was crucial to breaking the deadlock.
“I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together,” Mr. Trump said. “But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”
Speaking to reporters in Moscow on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said any meeting between Putin and Mr. Trump would have to be “well prepared” for, but he said such an encounter was indeed necessary in Russia’s view, as “a serious conversation on international issues is needed, including the Ukrainian crisis.”
Should the talks in Istanbul fail to make any progress, Zelenskyy said Friday that there should be a “strong reaction,” as it would be clear, in his view, that Russia does not have any interest in ending the war.
