Trump spoke a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a fresh twist to the stop-start peace talks process, said he would travel to Istanbul where, he said, he would be waiting to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Trump told reporters at the White House that talks in Istanbul could be helpful and he might join them on Thursday while in the region. His current schedule has him visiting Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar this week.
“I’ve got so many meetings, but I was thinking about actually flying over there. There’s a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen, but we’ve got to get it done,” he said before departing for his second foreign trip since his second term in the White House began in January.
“Don’t underestimate Thursday in Türkiye,” Trump said.
Later, in his nightly video address, the Ukrainian president noted that Russian attacks had continued on the front lines throughout the day, and Moscow still had not responded to his call for Putin to meet him for talks in Türkiye later in the week.
“Russian shelling and assaults continue,” Zelenskyy said. “Moscow has remained silent all day regarding the proposal for a direct meeting. A very strange silence.”
Diplomatic contacts were renewed.
