Zelenskyy confirms trilateral talks to include Putin discussed with Trump

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday confirmed he discussed a trilateral meeting to include Russian President Vladimir Putin, potentially as soon as next week, in a call with President Donald Trump one day prior. 

Zelenskyy – who echoed comments issued by Trump on Wednesday and said the discussion was also held with European leaders – called on Putin to “be brave” and take the meeting.

“Yesterday, various potential formats for leader-level meetings to bring peace were also discussed – two bilateral and one trilateral,” he said in a post on X. “Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side. It is time we ended the war.”

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The comments came after months of attempts by the Trump administration to get Putin to sit down with Zelenskyy, which the Kremlin chief has thus far refused. 

It appeared unlikely that he would agree to it this time around either, as Russian state media on Thursday reported Putin as being open to the idea, but said “conditions must be created for negotiations to take place.”

The “conditions” were also reported to be “far from being created,” according to a Telegram post by Russian state news agency RIA.

Trump’s foreign policy advisor further claimed on Thursday that the issue of a trilateral meeting was “mentioned” but “not discussed” during Putin’s talks with White House envoy Steve Witkoff and later, Trump.

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“As for the option of a trilateral meeting, which for some reason was discussed yesterday in Washington, this option was simply mentioned by the American representative during the meeting in the Kremlin. But this option was not specifically discussed,” Kremlin foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov said. “The Russian side left this option completely, without comment.

“We propose first of all to focus on preparing a bilateral meeting with D. Trump and we believe that the main thing is for this meeting to be successful and productive,” he added. 

Zelenskyy said he had been in discussions with both German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday to ensure Europe’s interests were also at the forefront of any U.S.-Russia-Ukraine discussions. 

“We are coordinating our positions, and we equally see the need for a common European view on key security issues for Europe,” Zelenskyy said. “Much depends – both now and in the long term – on the prudence and effectiveness of each step taken by Europe and America.”

Both Germany and France have taken on leadership roles when it comes to the war in Ukraine and protecting Europe’s interests following Trump’s re-entrance into the White House earlier this year. 

The U.K. has also been at the forefront of these discussions, though Fox News Digital could not immediately confirm whether Zelenskyy had also already discussed the trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.