Rubio says Putin has agreed to meet with Zelenskyy
- Svitlana Ivanchenko
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13:42, 19 August, 2025
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Putin had agreed to meet with Zelenskyy. Illustrative photo: X/Secretary Marco RubioUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has agreed to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He said this on Fox News.
According to him, US President Donald Trump proposed that the leaders of Ukraine and Russia meet. So now, Rubio says, Washington is working to organise such a meeting for them.
«If everything goes well, I hope the next meeting will be a meeting between Presidents Putin, Trump and Zelensky, where we hope to finalise the deal. This was discussed today, how to get to this point. But the very fact that Putin says: 'OK, I'll meet with Zelenskyy' is a big deal,» Marco Rubio stressed.
The US Secretary of State also stressed that Trump «hates war», because he believes it is a waste of money and lives, so he «has made peace a priority».
Earlier, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Donald Trump, during a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, had agreed to a meeting between the leaders of Ukraine and Russia in the next two weeks.
Zelenskyy meets with Trump at the White House
On 18 August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at the White House for talks with US President Donald Trump. European leaders also arrived in Washington.
Following the talks, Trump and Zelensky called the bilateral meeting «very good». Afterwards, the US president had a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and said he had begun preparations for a face-to-face meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian leaders.
This happened a few days after the talks between Trump and Putin in Alaska. The US president rated that meeting at «10 out of 10» and said that he would refrain from additional sanctions or other «serious consequences» for Russia, which he had previously promised.
