Merz: Zelenskyy may meet Putin within two weeks

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin will meet within the next two weeks.

As reported by Reuters, Merz said that Trump had agreed on this with Putin during a break in multilateral-format talks between the leaders of Ukraine, the US, the European Commission, NATO and a number of European states.

"The American president spoke with the Russian president on the phone and agreed that there would be a meeting between the Russian president and the Ukrainian president within the next two weeks.[N.B. European Pravda doesn't recognise Putin as president – ed.]" Merz said.

The German chancellor revealed that Trump had agreed to send another invitation to a trilateral meeting after that so that negotiations could "truly begin".

He noted that the venue for this meeting has not yet been determined.

"We don't know whether the Russian president will have the courage to attend such a summit. Therefore persuasion is needed," he added. 

The German chancellor said that Trump was impressed that the Europeans presented a united front and that their talks with the US administration will now move to the details of security guarantees for Ukraine.

"It is absolutely clear that the whole of Europe should participate," Merz concluded. 

Before the start of the meeting of the leaders of the US, Ukraine, the European Commission and a number of European states, Merz insisted that the next round of talks with Russia must aim for a ceasefire, contrary to Trump’s intention not to negotiate this.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb revealed additional details of the White House meeting, including three main outcomes.