Trump could meet Putin as early as next week, White House official says

By Andrea Shalal and Jasper Ward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as early as next week — their first meeting since Trump's return to office in January — a White House official said on Wednesday.

The official said a location for the possible meeting had yet to be determined.

Separately, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Russian leader expressed a desire to meet Trump. She said Trump was open to meeting both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The New York Times, which was first to report the possible meeting, said Trump would hold a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskiy after meeting the Russian leader. A source familiar with the discussions said Trump told European leaders that he would meet Putin.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump acknowledged having spoken with European leaders after what Trump called a "highly productive" meeting his special envoy Steve Witkoff had with Putin in Russia.

While noting that great progress was made during the meeting, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come."

Trump, who promised to end Russia's three-year-old war in Ukraine on "Day One" of his second term, has since returning to office in January had several phone calls with Putin and met with Zelenskiy at the White House in February and on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral in April.

In recent weeks, Trump has voiced increasing frustration with Moscow over a lack of progress towards ending the conflict and has set a Friday deadline for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Deepa Babington and Howard Goller)