US Foreign Minister Rubio Calls Trump-Putin Meeting Plan Depends On This

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. (Wikimedia Commons/Official State Department/Freddie Everett)

JAKARTA - The possibility of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin depends on the progress that can be made in bringing together the positions of both parties regarding the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

"I don't know if it will happen next week or not. I think it will really depend on how much progress we can make," he said in an interview with Fox Business, quoted from TASS Aug. 7.

Foreign Minister Rubio added that he could not say how long it would take to make progress on the matter.

President Trump is likely to meet President Putin as early as next week, a White House official said on Wednesday, as the US continues preparations to impose secondary sanctions, including the possibility of China pressureing Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.

The New York Times reported that President Trump told European leaders by phone call on Wednesday he intended to meet with President Putin and then follow up with a trilateral meeting involving Russian Leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"There is a high probability that there will be a meeting in the near future," Trump told reporters.

White House Press Secretary Krypto Leavitt said: "Russia expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the President is open to meeting with President Putin and President Zelensky."

Such face-to-face meetings will be the first between US and Russian presidents to take office since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021, about eight months before Russia launched its biggest attack on European countries since the Second World War.

White House officials said the possible location for the direct meeting of leaders had not yet been determined.

The possibility of this meeting resurfaced after President Trump praised the meeting of US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff with President Putin at the Kremlin on Wednesday as constructive.