Updated August 7, 2025 at 6:08 PM CDT
President Trump says he is willing to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine, without requiring Putin to also meet with Ukraine's leader.
The Kremlin said earlier that Putin would hold bilateral talks with Trump in the coming days but did not agree to a White House envoy's suggestion that they have a trilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Asked by reporters Thursday if Putin needed to meet with Zelenskyy as well, the U.S. president said, "No he doesn't." He continued, "They would like to meet with me, and I'll do whatever I can to stop the killing."
It would mark the first in-person summit between Putin and a U.S. leader since 2021, the year before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
The discussion of a summit came amid the countdown to Trump's Friday deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or face a raft of new sanctions and tariffs on Russian energy exports.
Asked whether the deadline still stands, Trump said it depends on Putin. "It's going to be up to him. We're going to see what he has to say. It's going to be up to him. Very disappointed," Trump said.
In a sign that some new penalties were already underway, Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday saying he would slap an extra 25% tariff on India over its purchases of Russian oil. He told reporters there could be further penalties, including on China, which, along with India, is a leading importer of oil from Russia.
Putin's meeting with Trump's envoy
Russia's government gave positive signs when Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.
The Kremlin released a video showing Putin greeting Witkoff with a warm handshake and said the meeting lasted three hours. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described the talks as "useful" and "constructive."
Ushakov said the U.S. envoy proposed the idea for a Trump-Putin summit. He said it would be hard to determine how long the preparations would take, but that Moscow held "quite a positive view" that it could happen next week.
On Thursday, Putin even suggested they hold the talks in the United Arab Emirates, as the president of that Gulf Arab country was visiting Moscow.
Asked about the prospect of a Zelenskyy meeting, Putin said he had "nothing against that on the whole, it is possible," but added that the necessary conditions are still a long way from being met.
Trump also hailed the Witkoff meeting on social media as "highly productive," saying much progress had been made. But he later told reporters there had been no "breakthrough." And he was circumspect about the prospects of ending more than three years of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "I've been disappointed before, with this one," he said.
Trump's frustration
The news follows weeks in which the president has grown increasingly impatient with Putin over his failure to stop attacking Ukrainian cities, despite months of U.S.-led peace efforts.
Russia launched its ongoing, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, following years of conflict in eastern Ukraine, leading to Europe's deadliest war since World War II.
Trump had campaigned to return to office vowing he could leverage his personal relationship with Putin developed over his first term in office to end the war in "24 hours." His administration made overtures to the Kremlin, voicing support for key Russian demands of Ukraine.
But Trump began voicing frustration over Russia's deadly assaults on Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine. In mid-July, he announced a policy shift: The U.S. would sell weapons to NATO allies in Europe, which would then arm Ukraine.
He also warned that Russia had 50 days to end the war or face "severe" new economic penalties. He said this included "secondary tariffs" on countries buying Russian goods.
Last week, Trump moved the deadline up to Friday.
He has explained that the plan is to starve the Russian war machine of fuel revenue. But speaking to reporters on Tuesday, he questioned whether more economic penalties could push Russia to change course. "You know, they're wily characters and they're pretty good at avoiding sanctions," Trump said.
Russia shrugs
Putin has largely avoided addressing Trump's threats in public, only breaking his silence last week with a brief, veiled reference to the U.S. leader.
"All disappointments stem from inflated expectations, as the saying goes," Putin told reporters last Friday following a visit to a monastery in northwest Russia.
"In order to solve the issue in a peaceful way," Putin said, "we need deep conversations, and not in public, but in the calm quiet of the negotiating process."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov downplayed Trump's threat to impose penalties by Friday. He said Russia's economy had grown largely "immune" to Western pressure following more than three years of sanctions.
Trump warms to Ukraine
While President Trump has criticized Russia, his relationship with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has improved dramatically since they had an on-camera argument in the White House back in February.
Zelenskyy said Tuesday on social media that he had a "productive conversation" with Trump on the eve of Witkoff's trip to Moscow.
"Of course, we spoke about sanctions against Russia," Zelenskyy said. "Their economy continues to decline, and that's exactly why Moscow is so sensitive to this prospect and President Trump's resolve."
Zelenskyy also announced that the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Denmark had agreed to buy a combined $1 billion in U.S. weapons and send them to Ukraine.
The Netherlands said it will send American missiles and other parts for U.S. Patriot air defense systems already in Ukraine, valuing the assistance at more than $500 million. The Ukrainians say they urgently need additional missiles for the Patriot batteries to defend against escalating Russian airstrikes.
In an evening address Wednesday, Zelenskyy said: "It seems that Russia is now more inclined to a ceasefire. The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details — neither us nor the U.S."
Charles Maynes reported in Moscow. Greg Myre contributed reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine. Franco Ordoñez contributed from Washington, D.C.
Copyright 2025 NPR
