Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the United Arab Emirates might be the location for his upcoming meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. Putin made the announcement after meeting UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in the Kremlin.
A Kremlin official had earlier indicated the Trump-Putin summit could happen as soon as next week, but no specific date has been set yet. The announcement comes just before a White House deadline demanding progress from Moscow to end the three-year-old war in Ukraine.
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said the summit venue has been decided “in principle” but stressed the need to focus on preparing a successful bilateral meeting with Trump. He also dismissed the idea of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attending the summit, despite the White House saying Trump was open to it. Putin has previously rejected Zelenskyy’s offers to meet.
The summit would be the first U.S.-Russia meeting since 2021, when then-President Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva. While it marks a key step in Trump’s efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict, there is no guarantee the meeting will lead to peace, as Russia and Ukraine remain far apart on key issues.
Ushakov said organizing the meeting takes time and the exact date and venue will be announced later.
Months of negotiations led by the U.S. have failed to stop Russia’s invasion, which has killed tens of thousands of soldiers and over 12,000 civilians, according to the United Nations. Western officials accuse Putin of delaying peace talks to buy time for military gains. Putin insists any settlement must be on Russia’s terms.
The planned Trump-Putin summit marks a shift from the Biden administration’s policy of excluding Ukraine from major negotiations, a stance strongly supported by Kyiv.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said he planned talks with European leaders to discuss the conflict and stressed Europe’s role in ending the war. He reiterated Ukraine’s readiness for bold negotiations but said Russia’s attacks on civilians continue despite Trump’s calls for peace.
A recent Gallup poll showed that most Ukrainians now favor negotiating an end to the war, a sharp change from 2022 when most wanted to keep fighting until victory. About 70% now support seeking a settlement soon, though only a quarter believe fighting will end within a year.
The war front stretches over 1,000 kilometers with heavy casualties on both sides as Russia slowly captures more territory.
