Donald Trump will likely meet with Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia, the U.S. president told reporters on Wednesday, just hours after holding phone calls with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to Trump, no final decision has been made yet, and the date for the meeting “hasn’t been set,” but it could take place in the “not too distant future." He also suggested that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would take part in the talks. Earlier, Reuters sources reported that Russia was considering Saudi Arabia as a possible venue for a Trump-Putin meeting.
Trump also told journalists that he believes Putin “wants peace”:
I think we're on the way to getting peace. I think President Putin wants peace, President Zelensky wants peace and I want peace. I just want to see people stop getting killed.
When asked whether Zelensky would be present at the first meeting on ending the war, according to CNN, Trump seemed to suggest the Ukrainian leader would not attend. “Probably we’ll have a first meeting and then we’ll see what we can do about the second meeting,” he told reporters.