For all the extraordinary spectacle involved in President Trump’s talks with Russia’s president last week and with Ukraine’s president, accompanied by European leaders, on Monday, the most likely outcome so far is more meetings.
Mr. Trump stressed that his first priority would be to help organize direct talks between President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to bring the war in Ukraine to a close. The U.S. president said that he could then join them for subsequent rounds to help iron out remaining differences.
After emerging from the Oval Office, Mr. Zelensky summed up the discussion about a key issue, security guarantees, in a way that could apply to the entire process: “There is still a lot of work to be done.”
When will Zelensky and Putin meet?
Mr. Putin has agreed to meet with Mr. Zelensky in the coming weeks as the next phase of the peace process, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said on Tuesday. The U.S. National Security Council is working on a framework, she added.
But Mr. Putin had previously stated that he would hold such a meeting only after all the details of a peace treaty were hammered out, and there is no indication that has changed.
State news media in Russia on Tuesday played down any potential meeting, with Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov suggesting that it would require intense preparation. A foreign policy aide to Mr. Putin said that the Russian leader had agreed with Mr. Trump only that the level of representation at any talks should be higher than in previous rounds.
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The post What’s Next for the Ukraine Peace Talks? appeared first on New York Times.
