On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters in Abu Dhabi a meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin would happen ‘as soon as we can set it up.’
Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks since March 2022 in Istanbul on Friday and agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each.
Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he did not have “high expectations” about the talks and said there would be no breakthrough on agreeing to a cease-fire unless there was a direct meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Friday, Trump told reporters in Abu Dhabi that a meeting with Putin would happen “as soon as we can set it up.”
“I think it’s time for us to just do it,” he added.
Trump later told reporters: “He and I will meet, and I think we’ll solve it or maybe not. At least we’ll know. And if we don’t solve it, it’ll be very interesting.”
On Friday, a Ukrainian delegation, led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, sat down opposite a Russian team headed by Putin’s presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky.
After the talks, which lasted less than two hours, Umerov told the BBC, “We have discussed the cease-fire issue. And the issue of [prisoner] swaps. The result is the swap of 1,000 persons for 1,000. That’s the result of our meeting.”
Medinsky confirmed the prisoner of war exchange, which would be the largest since the war broke out in February 2022. He said both sides had also agreed to provide detailed proposals for a cease-fire.
Putin rejected an offer by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to have direct talks in the Turkish capital, Ankara, this week.
Zelenskyy flew to Ankara on Thursday, but when Putin opted out of coming, the Ukrainian leader decided not to attend the talks in person.
Ahead of the talks, Zelenskyy accused Moscow of not being serious about peace and said the Russian delegation was just “a theater prop.”
Earlier this week, Trump, who visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, signaled his willingness to take a detour via Turkey to attend direct talks.
