Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the suitable places to hold a meeting with United States President Donald Trump.
Putin said that he was not 'on the whole' against meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, adding that 'certain conditions should be created' for such a meeting. He stressed that the current situation was 'far' from being ready for it.
"At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement was essentially reached to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days, that is, a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said. "We are now beginning concrete preparations together with our American colleagues," he added in televised comments.
He did not say where the summit would take place.
Russia's stock market index rose 4.5% after Ushakov announced the meeting.
According to a New York Times report, Trump intends to follow up his meeting with the Russian president with another meeting between him, Putin, and Zelensky.
Trump believes there is a good chance the leaders will agree to the meeting
Trump informed European leaders on Wednesday of his intention to hold a summit with Putin and Ukrainian Zelensky, sources told the NYT.
The proposed meeting would include only the three leaders, without the participation of European counterparts.
Asked later that day whether Russia and Ukraine had agreed to attend, Trump told reporters: “There’s a very good prospect that they will.”
When asked for comment on this, Dimitri Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, did not respond to the question.
However, Zelensky was quoted as saying, “It seems that Russia is now more committed to a ceasefire. The pressure on them is working, but the main thing is that they do not deceive us or the United States in the details.” Zelensky said in an address to his nation.