US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are planning to meet as early as next week, according to a New York Times report.
He then plans to conduct a three-way meeting between himself, Putin, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, two sources familiar with the matter told the NYT.
Trump reportedly announced the talks on a call with European leaders, and informed those on the call that no European counterparts would be involved
This report comes after the Kremlin called Wednesday talks between Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff "useful and constructive."
Witkoff held around three hours of talks with Putin in the Kremlin, two days before the expiry of a deadline set by President Donald Trump for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions.
Kremlin aid Yuri Ushakov told Russian news outlet Zvezda that the two sides discussed the conflict in Ukraine and the potential for improving US-Russia relations. He said Moscow had received certain "signals" from Trump and had sent messages in return.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social account that the talks were successful, but did not mention his plans to meet with either leader.
“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!”.
Zelensky was present on Trump's call with the European leaders, and later said that he was briefed on what Witkoff and Putin discussed.
"Our joint position with our partners is absolutely clear: the war must end. And it must end justly. European leaders also participated in the conversation, and I am grateful to each of them for their support. We discussed what had been conveyed in Moscow," he wrote in a statement on his Telegram.
Trump's threats to Russia
While speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump warned that he would impose sanctions if Moscow does not agree to a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine before Friday.
"There'll be sanctions, but they seem to be pretty good at avoiding sanctions," the US president told reporters in New Jersey.
"They're wily characters and they're pretty good at avoiding sanctions, so we'll see what happens."
"Is there anything [Russia] can do to avoid sanctions at this point?" a reporter asked.
"Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed," Trump responded.
Last week, Trump set a new deadline of 10 days for Russia to make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine or face consequences, underscoring frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 3-1/2-year-old conflict.
"I'm going to make a new deadline of about ... 10 or 12 days from today," Trump said during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland. "There's no reason in waiting... We just don't see any progress being made."