‘A lot of work ahead’ to secure Trump-Putin meeting – Rubio
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that considerable work lay ahead to overcome “many impediments” to a possible meeting between President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine.
“Today was a good day, but we got a lot of work ahead. There’s still many impediments to overcome, and we hope to do that over the next few days and hours, weeks maybe,” Rubio told Fox Business, after the White House said Trump was “open” to meeting Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The New York Times and CNN, citing people familar with the plan, said Trump plans to sit down with Putin as early as next week, and then wants a three-way meeting with the Russian leader and Zelensky.
The phone call came after US envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian leadership in Moscow earlier in the day for talks described by the Kremlin as “productive” — with Trump’s deadline looming to impose fresh sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Great progress was made!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that afterward he had briefed some European allies.
“Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come,” he said.
Minutes later, however, a senior US official said that “secondary sanctions” were still expected to be implemented in two days’ time.
Trump, who had boasted he could end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office, has given Russia until Friday to make progress towards peace or face new penalties.
Three rounds of Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul have failed to make headway on a ceasefire, with the two sides far apart in their demands.
Russia has escalated drone and missile attacks against its pro-Western neighbour to a record high and accelerated its advance on the ground.
“A quite useful and constructive conversation took place,” Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists, including AFP, after the three-hour meeting with Witkoff.
The two men exchanged “signals” on their positions, Ushakov said, without elaborating.
Zelensky confirmed his call with Trump and confirmed European leaders had taken part, although he didn’t name them.
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