Trump seeks to hold trilateral summit as early as Aug 22

U.S. President Donald Trump has told European leaders after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he wants to arrange a trilateral summit with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as soon as Aug. 22, U.S. online media outlet Axios said Saturday, reported Xinhua.

Zelensky said in an X post Saturday that he will meet Trump in Washington on Monday. Trump also invited the European leaders to join Monday's White House meeting, according to Axios.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Saturday that a trilateral summit is expected to follow Monday's meeting between Zelensky and Trump.

So far, the Russian side has not publicly committed to a trilateral meeting.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said Russia would like an early cessation of hostilities in Ukraine by peaceful means.

Putin said at a meeting on the results of his talks with U.S. President Donald Trump that Russia respects the position of the U.S. administration, which sees the need for an early cessation of hostilities, and Russia would like to move on to resolving all issues by peaceful means, according to a statement released Saturday by the Kremlin.

Putin said his visit to the U.S. state of Alaska was timely and very useful, adding that the talks covered almost all areas of Russia-U.S. cooperation, as well as a possible settlement of the Ukrainian crisis on a fair basis.

He said the conversation with Trump was "very frank," and "brings us closer to the necessary decisions."

Putin and Trump on Friday wrapped up their talks in the U.S. city of Anchorage in Alaska, but no deal was reached. The talks, which lasted about three hours, focused primarily on the Ukraine crisis, as well as on reshaping bilateral relations that have largely stalled in recent years.