Donald Trump willing to meet Putin and Zelensky ‘soon’ | World | News

Donald Trump has said he is willing to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky “soon” as long as something happens first. The US president has long made peace in the conflict one of his primary goals, and renewed moves to end the war have gained momentum in recent days.

Last week, following talks between Washington and Moscow, the White House presented a 28-point plan calling for Ukraine to cede the entire eastern Donbas region to Russia, among other demands believed to be in Russia’s favor. Mr. Zelensky said late Monday that “the list of steps necessary to end the war may become feasible.” He said he planned to discuss “sensitive” unresolved issues with Mr. Trump.

Rustam Umerov, a senior adviser to Mr. Zelensky, shared on X on Tuesday that Mr. Zelensky hopes to reach an agreement with Mr. Trump “in November at the earliest convenient date.”

Trump took to Truth Social on Tuesday evening to reiterate that the killing must end and claimed that the plan had been “fine-tuned with additional input from both parties and only a few sticking points remain.”

He said: “Hoping to finalize this Peace Plan, I have directed my Special Representative Steve Witkoff to meet with President Putin in Moscow, and at the same time Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll will meet with the Ukrainians.”

He added: “I look forward to meeting President Zelenskyy and President Putin soon, but ONLY when the agreement to end this War is FINAL or in its final stages.”

In addition to relinquishing Ukrainian territory, the peace plan announced last week also included an obligation for Kiev to limit its army to 600,000 men and permanently ban Ukraine from joining NATO.

This would also disable NATO troops in Ukraine and would not involve the United States or European countries in Ukraine’s defense in case Russia attacks again.

For its part, Russia will pledge not to launch further attacks on Ukraine and will face sanctions if it violates this.

Ukraine and its European allies said the plan rewarded Russia’s aggression.

The developments come after Russia launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine’s capital Kiev overnight, killing at least seven people in attacks that hit city buildings and energy infrastructure.

Mr. Zelensky wrote on Telegram that Russia fired 22 missiles of various types and more than 460 drones at Ukraine overnight.

Strikes cut off water, electricity and heat in parts of Kiev. Images show a large fire spreading through a nine-storey residential building in the Dniprovskyi district in eastern Kiev.

Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said 20 people were injured in Kiev. The Russian Ministry of Defense said it targeted military-industrial facilities and energy assets. The ministry said the attacks were in response to Ukrainian attacks on civilian facilities in Russia.

Liubov Petrivna, a 90-year-old resident of a damaged building in the Dniprovskyi district, told the AP that “absolutely everything” in her apartment was shattered and “glass rained down” on her due to the strike.

“No one is going to do anything about it,” he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin “will not stop until we finish our job.”