German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said US President Donald Trump convinced Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to meet with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Merz added that Putin agreed to this during a phone call with Trump, though the place of the meeting has not been decided yet.
Merz joined a group of European leaders who went to Washington on Monday to show their support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“We don’t know whether the Russian president will have the courage to attend such a summit. Therefore, persuasion is needed,” said Merz.
During a break in the meeting, “the American president spoke with the Russian president on the phone and agreed that there would be a meeting between the Russian president and the Ukrainian president within the next two weeks,” he told reporters.
The German chancellor added that Trump gave a go-ahead to another invitation to a three-way meeting later with an aim to “truly begin” the negotiations. He further said that Trump was pleased to see the Europeans present a unified front, and that talks with the US would now move on to security guarantees for Ukraine.
“It is absolutely clear that the whole of Europe should participate,” said Merz.
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