‘We will make this number 9…’: Trump eyes end to Ukraine war, to meet Zelenskyy at White House today

Eyeing to end the two-and-a-half-year war between Russia and Ukraine, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (local time) that he will likely meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a couple of weeks. He said he will also be meeting Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, who Trump claimed has a ‘terrible’ relationship with Putin.

If he is able to end the Ukraine war, this would be the ninth global conflict that the 79-year-old has been able to resolve, Trump claimed, while speaking to reporters at the White House in Washington. 

“Marco Rubio will be meeting with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov… It was a very productive phone call (with Russian President Putin). I will be meeting with him and we will make a determination,” the Republican president said. 

“Tomorrow I will be meeting with (Ukrainian) President Zelenskyy and tell him about the call… We have now done (resolved) 8 wars, and we will make this number 9,” he added.

Trump’s phone call with Putin

Earlier in the day, the US President also held a telephonic conversation with Putin. Later in a post on Truth Social, he said he will hold his second summit with Putin at Budapest in Hungary to bring an end to the ‘inglorious’ war in Ukraine. 

The telephonic conversation with Putin, Trump said, helped in making ‘great progress’. “At the conclusion of the call, we agreed that there will be a meeting of our High Level Advisors, next week. The United States’ initial meetings will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with various other people, to be designated,” Trump said.

Later, the White House also issued a statement and said Trump’s call with Putin was “very good and productive”. During the conversation, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Putin also congratulated Trump for resolving the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East.