Trump Says Putin and Zelensky Will Meet to Discuss Ending Ukraine War
President Trump announced that Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky would meet for direct talks, as Kyiv pushes for advanced missile defenses to close Russia's battlefield edge.
ANKARA — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would hold direct talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, a significant diplomatic signal to emerge from the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The announcement came as Zelensky used the Ankara gathering to press fellow NATO leaders for what he called “effective anti-ballistic systems and missiles.” His framing was pointed: ballistic missiles were, in his telling, “Russia’s last major advantage.” Neutralizing that capability, Kyiv argues, would close the asymmetry that has allowed Moscow to threaten Ukrainian cities at range while ground lines remain contested.
Trump’s statement that the two warring leaders will meet represents a shift in public posture for an administration that has pursued behind-the-scenes mediation while avoiding explicit commitments. No date or venue for the meeting was announced, and the conditions each side would bring to any such encounter — Russia’s territorial claims, Ukraine’s insistence on sovereignty — remain far apart.
Summit wraps with warmer tone
The NATO summit in Ankara closed Wednesday on a notably conciliatory note. Trump declared “a lot of love” among allies after what the Associated Press described as a rocky start — a closing that stood in contrast to the friction that had characterized the opening sessions. The Hill noted that Trump left Ankara having “warmed up to Ukraine” while hardening his rhetoric toward Iran, a dual posture that reflects Washington managing two parallel crises with different diplomatic temperatures.
The pivot toward Ukraine was evident across several summit outcomes. In addition to the Putin-Zelensky announcement, The Hill reported that Trump gave Ukraine the go-ahead on expanded defense production — a signal that Washington is prepared to support Kyiv’s capacity to arm itself even as diplomacy is being pursued.
Turkey’s F-35 deal on the table
A separate military transfer deal surfaced from the Ankara summit: the United States is expected to send six F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and lift existing bans on Ankara’s purchase of the advanced aircraft, the Jerusalem Post reported. The arrangement would require Trump to formally reverse a restriction that has been in place since Turkey purchased a Russian S-400 missile defense system. No final agreement has been announced, and the deal remains contingent on the presidential reversal.
Turkey’s role as summit host gave Ankara added leverage in bilateral negotiations, and the reported F-35 package — if confirmed — would mark a significant warming of a relationship that has been strained for years over the S-400 dispute.
War continues on the ground
Even as Ankara produced diplomatic momentum, Russian strikes continued without pause. Russian attacks killed three people across Ukraine, with Kyiv struck for the second consecutive night, according to Audacy. The overnight attacks underscored the pattern that has characterized the conflict: diplomatic activity in Western capitals has not translated into operational restraint on the battlefield.
Zelensky’s weapons push in Ankara was calibrated to this reality. His argument — that eliminating Russia’s ballistic missile advantage would change the fundamental military equation — is a bid to extract deliverables from allied governments that have grown cautious about escalation. Whether the summit produced concrete commitments on advanced air defense systems remained unclear as of Wednesday evening.
What to watch
The announcement of a potential Putin-Zelensky meeting is the clearest public commitment Trump has made to driving the parties toward direct negotiations. But logistics, preconditions, and venue are all unresolved. Both Russia and Ukraine have previously set conditions for talks that the other side has rejected.
Zelensky’s simultaneous push for more weapons and acceptance of talks reflects Kyiv’s long-standing position: negotiate from strength, not from a position of enforced concession. Whether Trump’s announcement translates into a scheduled meeting — and what framework would govern it — will be the test of whether the Ankara summit produced lasting diplomatic progress or an atmospherically warm but substantively thin closing statement.
For related coverage: Trump and Zelensky at NATO — Ukraine war talks | Patriot systems and Ukraine’s air defense push | NATO Ankara summit and the allied rift over Iran | Trump warns of Iran strike at Ankara
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