By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he would probably meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy next week to discuss Ukraine’s war to repel Russian invaders.
Trump did not make clear whether it would be a face-to-face meeting or a video conference. He spoke about the possibility while taking questions from reporters in an Oval Office welcome for Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Trump said he will “probably be meeting with President Zelenskiy next week,” and he also again expressed interest in meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin with whom he said he always had a “good relationship.”
Asked for a location for such a meeting with Zelenskiy, Trump noted “I’m here” in Washington and said he would not be going to Ukraine.
“I’d like to see it end, just on a human basis,” Trump said of Russia’s three-year-old invasion of Ukraine. “I’d like to see that end. It’s a ridiculous war.”
Trump said he wanted to talk to Zelenskiy about security for Ukraine assets such as rare earth minerals and wants “an equal amount of something” in exchange for U.S. support. “We would like them to equalize.”
Ukraine, wanting continued U.S. support in its war with Russia, is looking forward to a visit this month by Trump’s special envoy for the region, Keith Kellogg, according to Zelenskiy’s chief of staff Andy Yermak.
Yermak said he had spoken to Kellogg about topics including the battlefield situation, the safety of Ukrainian civilians, and meetings at the annual Munich Security Conference later this month.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
