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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dalvinder Singh Grewal" data-source="post: 226855" data-attributes="member: 22683">A meeting between Trump and Putin would follow US envoy Steve Witkoff holding talks with Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.Witkoff has travelled to Moscow four times previously, visits followed by optimism from Trump but ultimately no major breakthrough in peace talks.Speaking on Thursday, Putin said the United Arab Emirates could host his meeting with Trump, potentially as early as next week.Meanwhile, a White House official said no date or location has been set.Putin also referred to a potential meeting with Zelensky, saying "conditions" had not been met and there was "still a long haul ahead for the creation of such conditions."Previously, Putin said he would only meet Zelensky during a final phase of negotiations. Kyiv and its Western partners reject Moscow's demands for ending the war.Zelensky indicated his support for a summit, acknowledging that various formats of meetings had been discussed—"two bilateral and one trilateral"—and added that Europe "must be a participant" in any talks.He wrote, X: "Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side."When asked at a White House briefing on Wednesday night whether Zelensky and Putin had agreed to a three-way summit, Trump had said there was a "very good prospect."The US president is now striking a more cautious tone, telling reporters on Wednesday, "I don't call it a breakthrough...we have been working at this for a long time. There are thousands of young people dying... I'm here to get the thing over with."On Wednesday, the Kremlin released a vague statement about Witkoff's visit, calling the discussions "constructive" and noting that both sides had exchanged "signals."Zelensky, meanwhile, said he had spoken to Trump about Witkoff's visit, with European leaders also on the call.The Ukrainian president has been warning that Russia would only make serious moves towards peace if it began to run out of money.<img src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7405/live/3f185250-7328-11f0-8dbd-f3d32ebd3327.jpg.webp" alt="GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL/EPA/Shutterstock Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff shake hands before a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL/EPA/ShutterstockImages shared by Russian outlets showed Putin and Witkoff—who have met several times previously—smiling and shaking hands in a gilded hall at the KremlinExpectations are muted for a settlement by Friday—when Trump's deadline expires—and Russia has continued its large-scale air attacks on Ukraine despite the US threat of sanctions.Before taking office in January, Trump said he would be able to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in a day. The conflict has raged on, and his rhetoric towards Moscow has since hardened.Three rounds of direct talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul have failed to bring the war closer to an end, three and a half years after Moscow launched its full invasion.Moscow's military and political preconditions for peace are seen by Kyiv and its allies as the de facto capitulation of Ukraine.Russian demands include Ukraine becoming a neutral state, dramatically reducing its military, and abandoning its NATO aspirations, as well as lifting international sanctions imposed on Russia.Moscow also wants Ukrainian military withdrawal from its four partly occupied regions in the southeast and the demobilization of its soldiers.It also demands international recognition of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as the southern Crimea peninsula illegally annexed in 2014.Meanwhile, the US approved $200m (£150m) in additional military aid to Ukraine on Tuesday, including support for drone production.</blockquote>

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