President Trump on Monday raised the possibility of flying to Turkey later this week to join talks between Russia and Ukraine if there was a chance of progress in efforts to stop the fighting between the countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have indicated they could meet for direct talks in Turkey on Thursday. Trump has pressed for the two sides to agree to a ceasefire since he took office in January but so far no deal has been struck.
“You have the potential for a good meeting. I insisted that that meeting take place, and it is taking place. And I think you may have a good result out of the meeting Thursday with Russia and Ukraine. And I believe the two leaders are going to be there,” Trump said.
Trump, who is set to travel to the Middle East this week, added that he would consider flying into Turkey for the discussions if he thought it would be helpful.
“I don’t know where I’m going to be on Thursday. I’ve got so many meetings,” Trump said. “But I was thinking about actually flying over there. There’s a possibility of it I guess if I think things can happen.”
Ukraine had previously said it supported a temporary ceasefire, but Russia has not agreed to those terms.
Trump had a heated meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office earlier this year, but the two met again recently and secured a long-negotiated mineral deal that handed Washington future shares of Kyiv’s natural resources if the U.S allocates new money to support its war against Russia.
Trump has expressed frustration with Moscow in recent weeks, suggesting Putin may be stringing him along in peace talks. He has mused about the possibility of imposing tougher sanctions Russia if it does not agree to a ceasefire.
“I have a feeling they’re going to agree,” Trump said Monday. “Let’s see what happens.”
Trump added Monday that his administration is also looking at relieving sanctions on Syria in the aftermath of the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government. Trump said he was speaking to Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the matter.
“We may take them off of Syria because we want to give them a fresh start,” Trump said. “The way we have them sanctioned it doesn’t really give them much of a start. So we’ll make that determination.”
