Putin visit to include kissing the ring.

Easy peasy. They sit down, Vlad kisses the ring...war over. Russian oil flows across Europe. Everybody's happy. Well, almost everybody.

Trump plans sitdown with Putin, Zelensky in first meeting between leaders since Ukraine war began: source

By Caitlin Doornbos, NY Post

Published Aug. 6, 2025

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Wednesday there is a “prospect” of him meeting both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the same time, orchestrating what would be the first sitdown between the warring leaders since Moscow launched its war on Kyiv in February 2022.

“There’s a very good chance that we could be … [heading toward] the end of that road,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “That road was long, and continues to be long, but there’s a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon.”

Asked how close he thought he was to convincing Russia to commit to a full cease-fire, Trump said he couldn’t say, adding: “I’ve been disappointed before with this one.”

The president also said he did not yet know whether Putin was “tapping [him] along” with the continued talks — a suspicion he has previously stated following months of earlier failed peace talks — but insisted he would know “in a matter of weeks, maybe less.”

“But we’ve made a lot of progress, and as you know, we put a 50% tariff on India on oil — they’re the second largest, close to China, in terms of the purchase of oil from Russia,” he said.

“I don’t know if that had anything to do with it, but we’ve had very productive talks today.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also cautioned Wednesday that “we still have a ways to go” in terms of negotiating a peace agreement acceptable to both sides.

“If we can get what the Ukrainians will accept and what the Russians will accept close enough, then I think there’s the opportunity for the president to have a meeting that includes both Putin and Zelensky to try to close this thing out,” Rubio told Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow.”

“At some point a cease-fire has to be a part of this process because it is hard to negotiate details of a final peace agreement while you’re shooting at each other,” he added.

The president said he did not yet know if he would drop the additional tariffs on India — due to come in force Aug. 27 — once the broader secondary sanctions go into effect on Friday.

“We‘ll determine that later, but right now, they’re paying a 50% tariff,” he said.

Trump teased the tariffs in a Truth Social post on Monday, lambasting New Delhi for buying Russian oil for cheap before “selling it on the Open Market for big profits.”

“They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine,” he said.

It’s unclear where and when the trilateral would occur, though Turkey has hosted past low-level talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials.

Trump, 79, first informed European leaders of the possibility of a Putin-Zelensky sitdown in a call following special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Putin at the Kremlin early Wednesday.

Neither belligerent has confirmed plans for any meeting, but Ukraine has been seeking a face-to-face with Putin for months.

The news came after Washington declared Trump would follow through on his threat to levy sanctions on countries that purchase Russian oil should Moscow not agree to a cease-fire by Friday.

Kyiv has been ready to heed Trump’s demand for a total cease-fire since March.

“The Russians are eager to continue engaging with the United States,” a US official said in a statement following Witkoff’s meeting with Putin. “The secondary sanctions are still expected to be implemented on Friday.”

Trump himself may meet one-on-one with Putin before the anticipated trilateral summit, which could take place later this month.

Following the meeting, President Trump called Zelensky to discuss the diplomatic updates.

“President Trump can definitely end this war with a just and lasting peace,” Zelensky’s top advisor Andriy Yermak exclusively told The Post following the US-Ukraine call, which he described as “good.”

While the potential trilateral would represent a feat no leader has been able to achieve to date, Trump cautioned Wednesday that he did not consider it a “breakthrough.”

“I mean, we’ve been working on this a long time,” he said, noting that 20,000 Russian and 9,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed so far this year.

“You know, we don’t have American soldiers there, but I feel I have an obligation to get it stopped.”

Putin has consistently refused all calls to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart — including an entreaty by Trump himself months ago.

“I’m here to get the thing over with,” Trump said. “It would have never started if I were president, and we’re here to get it stopped and get the deaths stopped.”