Soon after a White House official told AP that President Donald Trump could meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, next week to broker an end to the war with Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky issued a stern message for Russia. The Ukrainian president on Wednesday posted about the anniversary of the Kursk Operation, calling it ‘historic’ and saying that his army called out Moscow’s ‘bluff’.
“Today marks the anniversary of the Kursk Operation – a truly Ukrainian historic operation. At a time when many spoke that the situation had reached a stalemate, and were losing faith in Ukraine, we proved that Ukrainians know how to act right. And we proved that many of Russia’s threats were just bluffs,” Zelensky posted on X, platform formerly known as Twitter.
“I am grateful to all our warriors – every soldier, sergeant, and officer – to all the men and women who took part in the Kursk operation,” he further added.
Zelensky was referring to Ukraine’s offensive into Russia’s Kursk Oblast, occupying parts of the region. It was the first time since World War II that Russian territory was occupied by a foreign military.
Trump-Putin meeting
An official told The Associated Press that the meeting between President Trump and Putin has not been scheduled yet and no location has been determined.
The White House said Trump was also open to a meeting with both Putin and Zelensky. This could be the first meeting between the two leaders since President Trump returned to office this year.
It would be a significant milestone in the 3-year-old war, though there’s no promise such a meeting would lead to the end of the fighting since Russia and Ukraine remain far apart on their demands.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was asked in an interview on Fox Business later Wednesday about a potential Trump-Putin meeting, said “a lot has to happen before that can occur.”
Rubio said the U.S. would be having talks with its European allies and the Ukrainians over the next few days. He said Trump meeting directly with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine would help close an agreement, but said, “We’ve got to get close enough to that point so that a meeting like that will be productive and worth doing.”
“Today was a good day, but we’ve got a lot of work ahead,” he said. “There’s still many impediments to overcome.”
This week, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow. Trump had posted earlier on Truth Social that Witkoff “had a highly productive meeting” with Putin in which “great progress was made.”
Zelensky has been willing to meet face-to-face with Putin to end the conflict, but Russia has repeatedly rejected the idea.
(With AP inputs)
