Donald Trump urged Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy to show "flexibility" as the US president seeks to expedite his efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

"I hope President Putin will behave, and if he doesn't, it's going to be a difficult situation," Trump said Tuesday in an interview on Fox News. "I hope Zelenskiy, President Zelenskiy, will do what he has to do. He has to show flexibility."

Trump's comments follow a series of twists and turns as the US president seeks to end Russia's war against Ukraine, now in its fourth year. Trump held a summit in Alaska with Putin last week and spoke at the White House with Zelenskiy and European allies on Monday.

Trump spoke with Putin again on Monday and urged him to begin planning a bilateral summit with Zelenskiy—a meeting that would mark the first time the two leaders have met in person since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. Trump said that if the meeting goes well, he would seek to follow it up with a trilateral summit with Putin and Zelenskiy.

"I think they're doing fine. I wouldn't say they're going to be best friends, but they're doing fine, and we'll see," Trump said. "So we're setting up a meeting. I'm setting it up with Putin and Zelenskiy, and, you know, they're the ones who have to make the decision."

However, details of the plan appear to remain unclear—Trump acknowledged that a time and location have not been set, and Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said only that Trump and Putin have discussed the idea of direct talks with Zelenskiy. The meeting between Putin and Zelenskiy is likely to take place within two weeks, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters on Monday. French President Emmanuel Macron hinted that the trilateral summit could take place within three weeks. (alg)

Source: Bloomberg