Putin reveals likely spot for meeting with Trump, possibly next week

Putin made the announcement in the Kremlin after his meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE.

A Kremlin official said earlier that a Trump-Putin meeting could take place as early as next week, although no date has been confirmed.

A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump has been agreed. (AP)

The announcement of a summit came on the eve of a White House deadline for Moscow to show progress toward ending the 3-year-old war in Ukraine.

Yuri Ushakov, an adviser on foreign affairs to Putin, mentioned to reporters that there is a tentative agreement suggested by the American side for a high-level bilateral meeting in the coming days.

Ushakov indicated that the summit is anticipated to take place next week. However, he emphasized that organizing such events requires time and no specific date has been set yet. The location of the meeting will be disclosed “a little later,” he added.

He also downplayed the chance of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participating in the summit to negotiate an end to Russia’s three-year-long incursion into Ukraine, though the White House noted that Trump is open to this possibility.

“Our primary focus,” Ushakov stated, “is on preparing a meeting with Trump, which we deem crucial for it to be successful and fruitful.”

Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, pictured here in June 2019, could meet as soon as next week, a top Kremlin aide has said (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters/File via CNN Newsource)

A meeting between Putin and Trump would be their first since the Republican president returned to office this year.

This meeting would be an important step in the conflict, although there is no guarantee it will result in the cessation of hostilities, given the large gap in demands between Russia and Ukraine.

Western officials have frequently accused Putin of using delays in peace talks to give Russian troops additional time to occupy more territories in Ukraine.

Putin has in the past offered no concessions and will only accept a settlement on his terms.

A man stands at the broken windows of his house after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine. (AP)
People say the last goodbye to 12 Ukrainian soldiers who died in Russian captivity. (AP)

It was not clear whether Trump’s Friday deadline for the Kremlin to stop the killing in Ukraine still stood.

Support for continuing the fight wanes in Ukraine

A new Gallup poll published Thursday found that Ukrainians are increasingly eager for a settlement that ends the fight against Russia’s invasion.

The enthusiasm for a negotiated deal is a sharp reversal from 2022 — the year the war began — when Gallup found that about three-quarters of Ukrainians wanted to keep fighting until victory. Now only about one-quarter hold that view, with support for continuing the war declining steadily across all regions and demographic groups.

The findings were based on samples of 1000 or more respondents ages 15 and older living in Ukraine. Some territories under entrenched Russian control, representing about 10 per cent of the population, were excluded from surveys conducted after 2022 due to lack of access.

Since the start of the full-scale war, Russia’s relentless pounding of urban areas behind the front line has killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations. On the 1000-kilometre front line snaking from northeast to southeast Ukraine, where tens of thousands of troops on both sides have died, Russia’s bigger army is slowly capturing more land.

Locals look at a residential house destroyed by a Russian air strike in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. (AP)

The poll came out on the eve of Trump’s Friday deadline for Russia to stop the killing or face heavy economic sanctions.

In the new Gallup survey, conducted in early July, about 7 in 10 Ukrainians say their country should seek to negotiate a settlement as soon as possible. Zelenskyy last month renewed his offer to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, but his overture was rebuffed as Russia sticks to its demands, and the sides remain far apart.

Most Ukrainians do not expect a lasting peace anytime soon, the poll found. Only about one-quarter say it’s “very” or “somewhat” likely that active fighting will end within the next 12 months, while about 7 in 10 think it’s “somewhat” or “very” unlikely that active fighting will be over in the next year.

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