The White House revealed that President Donald Trump is receptive to meeting with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in Turkey, following stalled ceasefire talks earlier this week.
Although the recent Istanbul meeting—marking the first face-to-face discussions since mid-May—yielded little progress toward peace, both sides agreed to conduct another major prisoner exchange.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed convening a trilateral summit later this month in either Istanbul or Ankara, inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Trump to participate.
While Putin has not yet accepted the proposal, Zelensky expressed readiness, highlighting that crucial decisions can only be settled at the leaders’ level.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt affirmed that Trump, intent on a swift resolution to the conflict, remains open to a three-way summit “if it comes to that,” but emphasized the necessity of both parties’ willingness to negotiate.
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Zelensky said that “we really expect Trump to take strong steps”, and urged the US leader to toughen sanctions on Russia to “push” it to agree to a full ceasefire.
In Monday’s meeting, Ukraine said that Moscow had rejected its call for an unconditional ceasefire. It offered instead a partial truce of two to three days in some areas of the frontline.
According to reports from Russian state media, Russia insists on a complete ceasefire only if Ukrainian forces fully withdraw from four key areas: Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson — regions where Moscow currently holds partial control.
Additionally, Russia is demanding that Ukraine be prohibited from joining NATO, that its military capabilities be restricted, and that Western military assistance to Kyiv be halted.