Trump Suggests Possible Meeting with Putin Following US Envoy's Discussions with Russian Leader

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United States President Donald Trump may soon meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the US continues to prepare for imposing secondary sanctions, potentially targeting China, to pressure Russia into ending the conflict in Ukraine.

This would be the first in-person meeting between a sitting US president and the Russian president since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021, which was about eight months before Russia initiated its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Neither Putin nor Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have met since December 2019.

The New York Times reported that Trump informed European leaders during a call on Thursday AEST of his intention to meet with Putin, followed by a trilateral that would include the Russian leader and Zelenskyy.

“There’s a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon,” Trump stated to reporters.

A White House official said Trump could meet with Putin as soon as next week.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt remarked: “The Russians have expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the president is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelenskyy.”

US envoy Steve Witkoff meets with Putin

The details emerged following a meeting between Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff that Trump described as having achieved “great progress” in a Truth Social post. Although later he said he would not call it a breakthrough.

A Kremlin aide said the talks were “useful and constructive”.

The diplomatic manoeuvres come two days before a deadline set by Trump for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions.

Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin due to the lack of progress towards achieving peace and has threatened to impose heavy tariffs on nations purchasing Russian exports, including oil.

Two men in suits shake hands inside a room with another man standing at a distance behind a chair.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) met with US envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow for three hours on a last-minute mission to seek a resolution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Source: AAP / Gavril Grigorov

Trump said he could announce further tariffs on China similar to the 25 per cent duties announced earlier on India over its purchases of Russian oil.

“We did it with India. We’re doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China,” he said.

The White House official earlier said while the meeting between Witkoff and Putin had gone well and Russia was eager to continue engaging with the US, secondary sanctions that Trump had threatened against nations doing business with Russia were still expected to be implemented later this week.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov mentioned that both sides had exchanged “signals” regarding the Ukraine issue and discussed the potential for developing strategic cooperation between Russia and the US, but did not provide further details until Witkoff had reported back to Trump.

Zelenskyy said he believed pressure had worked and Russia was now more “inclined” to a ceasefire.

“The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details — neither us nor the US,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.

Trump on Truth Social said he had updated some of the US’s European allies following Witkoff’s meeting.

Pressure on India

The new measure raises tariffs on some Indian goods to as high as 50 per cent, among the steepest faced by any US trading partner. India’s external affairs ministry called the decision “extremely unfortunate”.

The Kremlin says threats to penalise countries that trade with Russia are illegal.