US: Trump Announces Meeting Russian President, Putin

Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that preparations are in progress for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, although he did not specify a timeframe for when the meeting might take place. "He’s enthusiastic about meeting, and we’re coordinating it," Trump said at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to the BBC.

That said, the Kremlin has emphasized that the United States has not yet put forward an official request for a meeting. Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, was quoted by Russian news agency Tass, stating that conversations on the issue are still in progress.

President Trump, who has promised to broker a peace agreement for Ukraine once he takes office on January 20, expressed doubts about the sustained US military and financial aid to Kyiv.

'Putin is looking to meet', Trump stated on Thursday. "He has openly declared it, and we need to put an end to this conflict. It's a tragic disaster."

Trump, in preparation for a second term, has appointed Keith Kellogg, a former national security adviser and retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, as a special envoy to Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg had previously laid out his plan to end the conflict in a policy paper published by the America First Policy Institute last April.

The policy brief Recommended conditioning U.S. aid to Ukraine on its openness to peace talks with Moscow, while advising continued backing if Russia rejected negotiations.

In the wake of Trump’s election win in November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated hope that the war might "end sooner" with Trump leading. He described a "fruitful conversation" during a call with Trump, although he withheld specifics about their discussion or any particular requests regarding talks with Russia.