A Trump-Putin meeting could perform next week, says a White House official

A bilateral meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could perform next week, a White House official said on Wednesday.

But Trump himself was less definitive when asked by the journalists at an oval office event later during the day to find out if he would meet Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“Well, look, I don’t want to say that it is-I have already been disappointed with it,” he replied.

At the same time, he said that there was a “very good prospect” of a summit between Putin and Zelenskyy.

“Well, there is a very good prospect that they will do,” he said. “And we did not determine where, but we had very good discussions with President Putin today. And, there is a very good chance that we can end the – ending the turn – ending the end of this road. This road was long and continues to be long. But, there is a good chance that they are a meeting very soon.”

When asked if there had been a breakthrough in Wednesday talks in Moscow between Putin and the envoy Steve Witkoff and if Putin made a kind of concession that he was not willing to make before “Trump replied”, I do not call him a breakthrough. I mean, we have been working on it for a long time. “”

Trump was asked if his opinion that Putin “tapped him” had changed, but he said he was too early to find out.

“I can’t answer the question yet. I’m going to tell you, in a few weeks, maybe less. But we have made a lot of progress,” said Trump.

He would not weigh if they are close to an agreement because he was “very disappointed” before.

When Witkoff returned from Moscow on Wednesday, he relayed President Trump that Putin would like to meet him, said the White House manager.

In response, Trump said he was open to this if Putin also meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, added the manager.

During an interview with Larry Kudlow of Fox Business Network, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was measured on what had occurred by the developments of the day linked to Russia and Ukraine, saying that it could take time to bring the leaders of the countries.

“I do not know if it will be next week or not. It remains to be seen. I think it will depend a lot on the amount of progress we can make,” said the secretary when he was questioned on Trump’s plans for Trilateral Summit.

Rubio said the administration would hold additional interviews with European allies and Ukrainians in the coming days aimed at bringing all the parties to the point where a face -to -face meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy “will be productive and deserves to be done”.

“Let us hope that if things continue to progress, an opportunity will arise very soon so that the president meets both Vladimir Putin and with President Zelenskyy at one point here, let’s hope it in the near future-but it is obviously more important than it can happen,” he said, stressing that there was “a lot of work to come”.

“There are still many obstacles to overcome, and we hope to do so in the coming days and hours-perhaps weeks,” he said.

Witkoff met Putin for several hours before the Friday deadline imposed by Trump so that Russia accepts a cease-fire with Ukraine or faces sanctions.

According to a senior administration official, the meeting “went well”, but secondary sanctions should always be deployed against Moscow this week.

Trump expressed growing frustration towards Putin on the conflict, shortening the deadline for a ceasefire of 50 to 10 days, because he said that he was “disappointed” by the Russian chief.

Trump, in an article on social networks on Wednesday, called the meeting between Witkoff and Putin “very productive”.

“Great progress has been made! Subsequently, I updated some of our European allies. Everyone should be ended, and we will work there in the days and weeks to come,” wrote Trump.

Kelsey Walsh and Shannon Kingston of ABC News contributed to this report.