US Arranging Trump-Putin-Zelensky Talks Ahead of Alaska Summit, Says Vance

The United States is making efforts to organise a meeting between President Donald Trump, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday, amid mounting international calls for Kyiv’s participation in the upcoming US-Russia summit in Alaska.

Speaking on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, Vance said Washington had already made progress on one of the key obstacles to direct talks Putin’s longstanding refusal to meet with Zelensky.

“One of the most important logjams is that Vladimir Putin said that he would never sit down with Volodymyr Zelensky, the head of Ukraine, and the president has now got that to change,” Vance said.

“We’re at a point now where we’re trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict.”

The vice president added that the United States was aiming for “a negotiated settlement that the Ukrainians and Russians can live with,” acknowledging that neither side would be fully satisfied with the outcome.

The Alaska summit, scheduled for August 15, was initially planned as a bilateral meeting between Trump and Putin, sparking concerns among Ukraine’s European allies that any deal reached without Kyiv could force it to surrender occupied territory a prospect the European Union has rejected.

US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker told CNN on Sunday that Zelensky’s attendance was now a possibility, though he stopped short of confirming it. Asked directly whether the Ukrainian leader could join Trump and Putin on Friday, Whitaker said: “That’s something that is being discussed.”

The potential trilateral talks would mark the first direct meeting between Putin and Zelensky since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, and could signal a significant shift in diplomatic efforts to end the war.