President Donald Trump said he will meet Vladimir Putin to negotiate peace in Ukraine and their first sit-down will likely be in Saudi Arabia.
He made the announcement in the Oval Office after holding a 90-minute phone call with the Russian leader.
Trump said: ‘We expect that he’ll come here, and I’ll go there, and we’re going to meet also, probably in Saudi Arabia. The first time, we’ll meet in Saudi Arabia, see if we get something done.
‘We know the crown prince, I think it would be a very good place to meet.’
The president indicated the meeting in Saudi Arabia would just be himself and Putin, and would not include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump also would not commit to going to Ukraine, saying he would ‘think about it.’
He said: ‘Probably we’ll have a first meeting and then we’ll see what we can do about a second meeting.’
Trump also blamed his predecessor, President Joe Biden, for not ending the war sooner.
‘I’m not going to tell you my plan, this should’ve been done by Biden, not by me, this has been going on for a long time,’ he said.
Trump made his comments as Tulsi Gabbard was being sworn in as his Director of National Intelligence.
Meanwhile, Zelensky said he believed Trump could ‘pressure’ Putin into a peace plan.
‘We believe that America’s strength is sufficient to pressure Russia and Putin into peace,’ he said in a video message posted after his own phone conversation with Trump.
‘We are doing our best to bring peace closer,’ he added. ‘I thank all those who are helping.’
Earlier in the day, Trump announced he had personally spoken with Putin about a peace plan. He then called Zelensky to update the Ukrainian leader.
