Trump says there’s a ‘good chance’ he’ll meet with Putin, but no ‘breakthrough’ in Witkoff’s Moscow trip

By Anna Chernova, Svitlana Vlasova, Catherine Nicholls, Ivana Kottasová, Kylie Atwood, Kristen Holmes, and Kevin Liptak, CNN

(CNN) — US President Donald Trump said Wednesday there was a “very good prospect” of a summit meeting soon with Russia that could lead to an end to the war in Ukraine.

“We had some very good talks with President Putin today, and there’s a very good chance that we could be ending – the ending, the road ending, the end of that road,” he said in the Oval Office when asked about the chances of a meeting in the near-term. “That road was long and continues to be long, but there’s a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon,” he said.

Trump’s comments followed a meeting in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff – though Trump said there had been no “breakthrough” between the two men and declined to comment when questioned about the timeline for a deal, saying “I’ve been disappointed before with this one.”

Earlier, following the Putin-Witkoff meeting, Trump told European leaders on a telephone call that he wanted to meet soon — potentially as early as next week — with Putin, followed by trilateral talks with the Russian leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. A European government source also confirmed the contents of the call.

Two White House officials told CNN that Putin suggested a meeting with Trump during the Russian leader’s face-to-face with Witkoff in Moscow.

Trump’s aides immediately began planning for these meetings, according to the two White House officials. While presidential travel and a major sit-down with two world leaders would normally take time to plan, these officials noted that Trump was urging his team to move fast.

No location has been settled on, but several options are under discussion, according to the White House. It said the talks could happen as soon as next week or within the next two weeks.

“The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the president is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelensky. President Trump wants this brutal war to end,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

Putin has been largely banished by Western leaders following his decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The last time the long-time Russian leader met with a US president was in 2021, when he met the then-President Joe Biden during a summit in Geneva, Switzerland.

Trump has repeatedly said he would meet with Putin since returning to the White House in January, but the announcement on Wednesday appeared more concrete than his previous comments.

Trump growing impatient with Putin

The Putin-Witkoff meeting, which Russian state media said lasted around three hours, took place after a frustrated Trump imposed a deadline on Moscow to agree to a ceasefire or face tough secondary sanctions, hitting countries that buy Russian oil with a 100% tariff.

Trump wrote on social media that “great progress was made” in the Wednesday meeting between Witkoff and Putin.

It was unclear whether the Trump administration would follow through on its threat to slap new sanctions on Moscow if a ceasefire is not agreed by later this week.

Earlier Wednesday, a White House official said secondary sanctions against Russia were “still expected to be implemented on Friday.”

However, speaking to Fox Business later on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump would decide whether to impose the secondary sanctions in the next 24-36 hours.

Oil and gas revenues are a key source of cash for the Kremlin, making up roughly a quarter of Russia’s government budget, so losing customers would be painful – and could hurt Moscow’s ability to finance the its war on Ukraine.

Rubio also said that, following Witkoff’s meeting, the US now had a better understanding of the conditions under which Russia would be prepared to end the fighting.

“For the first time perhaps since this administration began, we have some concrete examples of the kinds of things that Russia would ask for in order to end the war,” Rubio said.

The Kremlin had earlier described the meeting between Witkoff and Putin as “constructive and useful,” according to Russian state media TASS.

“Putin conveyed some signals to the United States on the Ukrainian issue. Corresponding signals were also received from President Trump,” state media outlet RIA Novosti reported, citing the Kremlin.

The Kremlin said it would release more information on what was discussed after Witkoff reports back to Trump, RIA said in a post on social media.

Zelensky, who spoke to Trump following the Witkoff-Putin meeting, said “it seems that Russia is now more inclined toward (a) ceasefire.”

“The pressure on Russia is working. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details. Neither us, nor the United States,” the Ukrainian leader said during his nightly video address to the nation.

Earlier in the day, the US envoy was greeted at the airport in Moscow by Russia’s investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Video later posted by the Kremlin showed Witkoff shaking hands with Putin ahead of their meeting.

Trump has grown increasingly impatient with Russia’s resistance to his peace efforts. Since the last meeting between Witkoff and Putin in April, Russia has ramped up its assault on Ukraine, attacking cities with an onslaught of missiles and drones.

Trump has called Russia’s attacks “disgusting” and has accused Putin of peddling “bullsh*t” in their tense phone conversations.

Hours after the meeting in Moscow, Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on India as punishment for its imports of Russian oil, according to a document posted on the White House website.

Trump earlier this week threatened India with the new tariffs, saying they were helping Russia wage war in Ukraine.

“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the oil purchased, 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 wrote on social media.

‘Cruelty aimed at instilling fear’

As diplomacy was underway in the Kremlin, Ukraine was once again left reeling following a spate of Russian attacks across the country overnight into Wednesday.

At least six people were killed in strikes carried out by Moscow in the 24 hours before Wednesday morning, including the deadly bombing of a recreation center in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.

Zelensky condemned the attack on the center, where two people died and four children were among the 12 wounded, as having “zero military sense,” calling it “just cruelty aimed at instilling fear.”

A gas compressor station that helps Ukraine receive US and Azerbaijani energy imports was also attacked overnight, according to the country’s energy ministry.

The gas transmission facility in the town of Novosilske, which is close to the border with Romania in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, was targeted by dozens of strike drones, the ministry said.

“Hundreds of families were left without gas,” Zelensky said in a statement. “This was a deliberate blow to our preparations for the heating season – absolutely cynical, like every Russian strike on our energy infrastructure.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine also said Wednesday morning that the US State Department has signed off on a $200m deal which will allow its partners to purchase military supplies on its behalf, including technical support for heavy artillery. The US has not yet commented.

On Tuesday, Zelensky welcomed pledges from NATO members worth more than $1 billion, through an initiative in which four of Ukraine’s European allies – the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden – will purchase US-made weapons for Kyiv.

This story has been updated with developments.

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CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Kristen Holmes, Alayna Treene, Fred Pleitgen, Kaitlan Collins and Angus Watson contributed to this report.