US President Donald Trump announced Friday, October 17, that the upcoming peace meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, will be a bilateral event, but he assured that the US would maintain contact with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Following a two-hour conversation with Putin yesterday, Trump confirmed the summit, which is set to take place in the coming weeks, though a precise date remains unconfirmed.
The US President confirmed the exclusion of the Ukrainian leader from the in-person summit, citing the contentious relationship between the two Eastern European presidents.
“It’s going to be a double meeting,” Trump said, “But we will have the President Zelensky in touch. There’s a lot of bad blood with the two presidents, and I’m not speaking out of turn when I say it.”
Speaking at the White House, Trump characterized himself as the “mediator president” for the conflict and said he intends to “keep a little bit of distance” between the two warring leaders.
He elaborated, “Three presidents and I’m the mediator president, and I’m mediating. Not an easy situation… It’s a lot easier when people understand each other, when they get together, when they like each other.
We don’t necessarily have that situation, as far as ‘like’ is concerned. Maybe it can turn around, maybe it can. But in the meantime, we’ll have them keep a little bit of distance.”
