Trump announced a possible meeting between Putin and Zelensky without his participation

US President Donald Trump said on August 19 that he did not plan to participate in a possible first meeting between the heads of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky. In an interview with Fox News, the politician suggested that it would be better if it were held in a bilateral format.

"I thought let them meet first, they're not best friends, you know. We got along very well. I called Putin yesterday, I have a good relationship [with him], but it only matters if we solve everything," he replied to a journalist's question.

Trump added that if the parties fail to come to an agreement, he will not care whether to continue good-neighborly relations with the Russian Federation.

"I want to finish the job. You know, I have experience, I have completed seven wars. I thought this conflict would be one of the simplest, but it turned out to be the most difficult," he said.

Zelensky's costume and a stream of thanks to Trump. Details of the White House meeting

On August 19, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that Russia was not abandoning any negotiation formats on Ukraine— either bilateral or trilateral. Moscow is interested in a serious, expert-level approach, starting from which it is possible to go through all the necessary steps step by step to prepare for the next summits, he said.

On the same day, Trump announced the beginning of the search for a place for talks between Putin and Zelensky. In turn, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that Putin and the head of the White House discussed the idea of a possible increase in the level of representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine at the talks. And they expressed their support for direct negotiations between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine.

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