President Donald Trump is open to a potential meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and the Russian leader had what Trump called a “highly productive meeting” on Wednesday, the White House said.
In a statement shared with Breitbart News, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Russians desire a meeting with Trump, and the president is open to a potential meeting with Putin and Zelensky.
“As President Trump said earlier today on TRUTH Social, great progress was made during Special Envoy Witkoff’s meeting with President Putin. The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the President is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelensky. President Trump wants this brutal war to end,” Leavitt wrote.
Leavitt’s statement comes after Trump spoke positively of Witkoff and Putin’s meeting.
“My Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, just had a highly productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Great progress was made!” Trump wrote in the post.
“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!” he added.
This marked the fifth in-person meeting between Witkoff and Putin, with the last coming in April, as Breitbart News London Bureau Chief Oliver JJ Lane noted.
The timing of Trump’s announcement regarding Wednesday’s meeting is particularly interesting, considering he revealed earlier Wednesday he is placing an additional 25 percent tariff on India beginning in three weeks in response to Russian oil purchases, on top of the 25 percent duties he imposed on India earlier this month.
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