Russian official says Trump, Putin may meet next week; not aware of any Zelenskiy meeting

By Kanishka Singh

Russia's deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin may meet with U.S. President Donald Trump next week, but said he was not aware of any planned meeting between Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

"As far as I heard, there are a number of locations, but they agreed to something that they don't want to disclose. The timeline is, I think, next week, but that's again judging from what presidents said themselves," Polyanskiy told reporters about the Putin-Trump meeting.

"I haven't heard about any meeting planned with President Zelenskiy, but I am not in the loop," he added.

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There has been no summit of U.S. and Russian leaders since Putin and former President Joe Biden met in Geneva in June 2021.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, citing what it called threats to its security. Kyiv and its Western allies cast the invasion as an imperial-style land grab.

Trump had vowed to end Russia's war in Ukraine, but almost seven months into his second term, it remains an unfulfilled promise.

In his comments to reporters, Polyanskiy also condemned any Israeli plan for a takeover of the Gaza Strip.

"We think that this is a very bad step in an absolutely wrong direction and we condemn this kind of actions," he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza, despite intensifying global criticism of Israel's devastating almost two-year-old assault on the Palestinian enclave that has caused a hunger crisis and killed tens of thousands.