PUTIN & TRUMP TO MEET FOR UKRAINE TALKS – Trump threatens new sanctions on Russia, buyers of its exports if no Ukraine deal is made
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump will meet in the coming days, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Thursday, in what would be the first summit between leaders of the two countries since 2021.
The announcement came a day after Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, held talks with Putin in search of a breakthrough to end the Ukraine war. Trump has threatened new sanctions against Russia and countries that buy its exports if there is no deal.
“At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement was essentially reached to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days, that is, a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump,” Ushakov said.
“We are now beginning concrete preparations together with our American colleagues,” Interfax news
A new Gallup poll 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 1,000 or more respondents aged 15 and older living in Ukraine.
About 1.8 million Ukrainians have died in the war according to a Colonel Douglas Macgregor, former adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Defence
