The White House is considering inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to President Trump’s highly anticipated face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska next week.
Discussions are underway about including Zelensky as the two world leaders prepare to meet in person on Friday in another bid to end Moscow’s 41-month-old invasion of Ukraine, senior White House officials and insiders told NBC News Saturday.
“It’s being discussed,” said one person briefed on the internal talks.
While no visit has been finalized, a senior official said it’s “absolutely” possible the Kyiv leader could travel to the Last Frontier state for the pivotal summit.
“Everyone is very hopeful that would happen,” the official told the outlet.
If Zelensky is invited to Alaska, it’s unclear whether the warring leaders would share the same room, an insider told NBC.
Trump announced Friday plans to meet with the Kremlin as he seeks a ceasefire in Ukraine.
The meeting would be the first US-Russian bilateral summit since former President Joe Biden met Putin at Geneve, Switzerland in June 2021.
It also marks the first in-person encounter between Trump and the Russian ruler since 2019, when the duo met on the sidelines of the G-210 summit in Osaka, Japan.
“It would have been sooner, but I guess there’s security arrangements that unfortunately people have to make,” Trump told reporters at the White House Friday, acknowledging a potential proposal will include “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both” war-torn nations.
“Otherwise I’d do it much quicker, He would, too. He’d like to meet as soon as possible, I agree with it.”
The president had suggested a day earlier he’d be willing to meet Putin face-to-face before involving Zelensky in talks, contradicting earlier statements from White House officials to The Post.
But the White House confirmed no such plans have been made.
“The President remains open to a trilateral summit with both leaders,” a White House official said.
“Right now, the White House is focusing on planning the bilateral meeting requested by President Putin.”
