MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the coming days, the Kremlin said on Thursday, as the US president seeks a breakthrough to end the Ukraine war after voicing mounting frustration with his Russian counterpart and threatening him with new sanctions.

The announcement came a day after Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, held three hours of talks with Putin in Moscow. Trump has threatened new sanctions against Russia and countries that buy its exports from Friday unless Putin agrees to end the 3-1/2 year conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.

On Wednesday, he imposed higher tariffs against India for buying Russian oil and said similar additional duties may follow on China, the other top buyer of Russian crude oil. It was not clear if he would announce further steps once his Friday deadline expires. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Russia and the US had agreed to hold a Putin-Trump summit “in the coming days”.Putin, at a meeting with the president of the United Arab Emirates, said the UAE would be an “entirely suitable” venue for the meeting but stopped short of confirming that the Gulf country would be the host.

There has been no summit of US and Russian leaders since Putin and Joe Biden met in Geneva in June 2021. Russia went to war in Ukraine in February 2022, citing threats to its own security and plunging relations into deep crisis. Kyiv and its Western allies cast the invasion as an imperial-style land grab.

Russian president says UAE is one of the appropriate places to meet his US counterpart

Trump has moved to mend relations with Russia and try to end the war, although in his public comments he has veered between admiration and sharp criticism of Putin.

A White House official also said on Wednesday that Trump could meet Putin as soon as next week.

Zelensky seeks European role

The New York Times reported that Trump told European leaders during a call on Wednesday that he intended to meet with Putin and then follow up with a trilateral involving the Russian leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine and European leaders have long held concerns that Trump, who has voiced sympathy with some of Russia’s demands, could align with Putin to force a deal on Zelensky that would be deeply disadvantageous to Kyiv.

Zelensky spoke on Thursday with the leaders of France and Germany and with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and said that Europe must be involved in the peace process. “The war is happening in Europe, and Ukraine is an integral part of Europe we are already in negotiations on EU accession. Therefore, Europe must be a participant in the relevant processes,” he said on X.

He said the war must end with a “dignified peace”, and whatever settlement was reached would shape the security landscape of Europe for decades to come. Russia had still not said it was ready for a ceasefire, he added. “The near future must show what the consequences will be if Russia continues to drag out the war and disrupt constructive efforts,” Zelensky said.

Mykola Bielieskov of the National Institute for Strategic Studies in Kyiv said offering Putin a summit with Trump amounted to giving him a reward without getting anything in return.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2025