The White House has clarified an earlier statement that led some to believe the US president would be calling Vladimir Putin<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s note: a previous report stated that President Trump would hold a call with President Putin
\nUS President Donald Trump will hold a phone call with Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky, the White House has said, clarifying earlier remarks that suggested Trump was referring to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
\nAsked by reporters on Wednesday about the two-week deadline Trump gave Putin to meet with Zelensky, the US leader said he would hold talks \u201cwith him\u201d in the coming days to discuss steps toward resolving the Ukraine conflict.
\n\u201cI\u2019m having a conversation with him very shortly and I\u2019ll know pretty much what we\u2019re going to be doing,\u201d Trump stated.
\nA White House official later told AFP that Trump was referring to Zelensky. \u201cThey will be speaking tomorrow,\u201d the official said. Zelensky and European leaders said earlier in the day that they expected a call from Trump on Thursday.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve already taken strong action, as you know, and in other ways as well. I\u2019ll be talking to him in the coming days, and we\u2019ll see what comes out of it,\u201d\u00a0Trump added.
\nTrump has sought to end the Ukraine conflict since returning to the White House earlier this year. He held a summit with Putin in Alaska last month. The three-hour talks marked a diplomatic breakthrough, though they produced neither a ceasefire nor a formal peace deal.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Putin ready to host Zelensky in Moscow<\/p>\n
Trump later met with Zelensky and several European leaders, urging direct talks between Putin and Zelensky. He warned he could impose sanctions and tariffs on both Moscow and Kiev if no progress is made in resolving hostilities.
\nAsked on Wednesday if he had a message for Putin, Trump replied: \u201cI have no message to President Putin. He knows where I stand, and he\u2019ll make his decision one way or the other\u2026\u201d
\nTrump said he has good relations with the Russian president, and that they would find out how strong their relationship is \u201cover the next week or two.\u201d
\nPutin said on Wednesday he sees \u201ca light at the end of the tunnel\u201d in efforts to resolve the conflict. \u201cWe\u2019ll see how the situation develops,\u201d he told reporters in Beijing. The Russian leader added he is ready to host Zelensky in Moscow, but noted that the latter\u2019s presidential term had long expired and said the Ukrainian constitution provides no mechanism for extending his powers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The White House has clarified an earlier statement that led some to believe the US president would be calling Vladimir Putin Editor\u2019s note: a previous report stated that President Trump…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-politics","category-society"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t