Trump is scheduled to meet Zelensky and Al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the NATO Summit

JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump will meet with his counterparts President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Ahmad al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey, the White House said on Sunday, in an effort to make progress in resolving conflicts in Ukraine and Lebanon.

"On Wednesday afternoon, President Trump will participate in a bilateral meeting with President Zelensky of Ukraine and President al-Sharaa of the Syrian Arab Republic," Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a telephone call with reporters, launching Al Arabiya from AFP (6/7).

Trump's meeting with Zelensky in Ankara comes amid stepped-up efforts to end the near-stalemated Ukrainian invasion launched by Russia nearly four-and-a-half years ago.

"The president is obviously going to meet with him to talk about how we can end the war. It has been his priority for a long time," a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the meeting with Zelensky.

President Trump will "follow up" with Russian President Vladimir Putin afterwards, the official said.

Both President Putin and President Zelensky spoke by phone with President Trump on Saturday in a call to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence.

President Trump and President Zelensky previously met during the G7 summit in France in June, where leaders agreed to increase pressure on Russia to end the war with Ukraine.

However, President Trump also had a tense relationship with Ukraine, especially during an exchange in the Oval Office in February 2025 when he said Zelenskyy had "no cards" to win.

Meanwhile, the meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa came after President Trump repeatedly suggested Damascus could get involved militarily in Lebanon, where Israel and Hezbollah are at war.

But President al-Sharaa, who was hosted by President Trump at the White House last year, in June denied his country was seeking to intervene militarily in Lebanon, saying he was seeking "economic channels between Lebanon and Syria, not military channels."

Syria has dominated its neighbor for decades after its military intervention in the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war, and only withdrew in 2005, so any new military involvement is a risky prospect.