The format of the meeting between the US President Donald Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska has changed — the leaders will not meet alone.
A senior White House official told NBC News, Sky News reports.
The previously scheduled face-to-face meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will now take place in a three-on-three format.
The talks will be attended by the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trumpʼs special representative Steve Witkoff, who has previously flown to Russia for negotiations several times.
Donald Trump is expected to meet with Putin on August 15 in Alaska — the US presidentʼs plane has already landed there.
CNN, citing senior administration officials, wrote that Rubio is not considered soft on Russia because he previously called Putin a war criminal.
What preceded
Trump has previously said there is a “good chance” he will meet with Putin and Zelensky — saying the meeting could happen soon after his summit with the Kremlin leader. However, if he doesn’t get the answers he needs by August 15, the three-way meeting will not happen.
CBS reported, citing sources, that the US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin could meet at the end of next week. The US is already working on a place for the leaders to meet. The Kremlin leader himself, commenting on the possibility of meeting with Zelensky, said that there are currently no suitable conditions for this.
The Wall Street Journal reported that on August 6, Putin presented the Trump administration with a proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine. In the first phase, Ukraine would withdraw its troops from the Donetsk region and freeze the front line. In the second phase, Putin and Trump would agree on a final peace plan, which would then be discussed with Zelensky.
European partners and Ukraine responded to Putinʼs plan with a counter-proposal on August 9. It states that the parties must achieve a ceasefire before any other steps can be taken.
"Ukrainians will not give away their land," said President Zelensky in response to the announcement of the Trump-Putin meeting. He emphasized that the Ukrainian Constitution has a clear answer about territories.
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