Trump and Putin to meet 'in coming days,' Kremlin confirms

Moscow: Russia and the United States have reached an agreement to arrange a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the coming days, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov announced in Moscow on Thursday.

Addressing reporters, Ushakov said that, at the suggestion of the American side, both countries have in principle agreed to hold a bilateral summit at the highest level soon. Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency reported that the exact date is being finalised by officials from both sides. “At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement was reached in principle to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days,” Ushakov said.

He further explained that the following week has been considered as a likely time frame for the summit, but the final schedule depends on the preparations required. “But the parties are starting to directly prepare for this important meeting, and it is difficult to say how many days the preparation will take. But the option of holding the meeting during the next week was considered, and we are quite positive about this option,” Ushakov stated.

Ushakov added that the venue for the Trump-Putin meeting has already been agreed upon, though the Kremlin will announce details about the location a little later.

This development comes after Putin hosted US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Wednesday. Following the meeting, President Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, “My Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, just had a highly productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Great progress was made! Afterwards, I updated some of our European Allies. Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Earlier, Ushakov confirmed that Putin and Witkoff had a useful and constructive conversation, with both sides sending and receiving “signals” on the Ukraine conflict, including some directly from Trump.

On July 14, President Trump had imposed a 50-day deadline, threatening 100 per cent tariffs on Moscow and its trading partners if Russia failed to reach a peace deal with Ukraine. On July 29, Trump shortened the deadline to just 10 days. Recently, senior US diplomat John Kelley told the United Nations Security Council that Trump intends to secure a deal to end the conflict by August 8.

With inputs from IANS