Trump announces first meeting with Putin to take place ‘in Saudi Arabia’

US President Donald Trump has announced that his first face-to-face meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during the former’s second tenure, would take place in Saudi Arabia.

“We’ll meet in Saudi Arabia,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday, confirming the location of the highly anticipated meeting.

The announcement followed a phone call between Trump and Putin, where the two agreed to initiate immediate “peace talks” aimed at resolving the 2022-present conflict in Ukraine.

Trump’s announcement came just hours after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth expressed doubts about Ukraine's ability to reclaim its pre-2014 borders in negotiations with Moscow, calling such expectations “unrealistic.”

The year saw eruption of pro-independence struggle in eastern and southern Ukraine following Western-backed riots that overthrew the country’s democratically-elected president Viktor Yanukovych.

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The Pentagon chief has announced a new $1bn military aid package for Ukraine, adding to the United States’ ongoing efforts to support Kiev amid its protracted conflict with Russia in the waning days of President Joe Biden’s administration.

The struggle featured armed uprising against Ukraine’s Western-backed government and army and was ensued by the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea’s joining the Russian Federation in a referendum.

The uprising lasted until Russia’s 2022 military action against the country that came amid the West’s ambitions of incorporating Kiev into the military alliance of NATO as well as, what Putin has denounced as, Western preparations to invade Russia.

Also in 2022, the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk joined Russia in similar plebiscites to the one that took place in Crimea.

Trump also said he did not believe that Ukraine’s joining NATO was feasible, but added that he remained “hopeful” of a “peaceful resolution” to the military conflict. “We’ll meet and start negotiations immediately,” he said.

In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump has also shared the same point of view, saying “We (the US and Russia) are looking for a way to end the conflict.”

His announcement of the upcoming meeting also followed his earlier comments that saw him saying Ukraine “may be Russian someday.”

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The US president says Ukraine may belong to Russia someday as Russian troops continue to make advancements on the eastern Ukrainian frontline.

Observers say Trump’s apparent efforts at fraternizing Russia on the Ukrainian issue might be geared towards preventing further integration of Ukraine’s territory into the Russian Federation, a development that has taken place in the cases of Crimea, Donetsk, and Lugansk in protest at the West’s bid to expand its influence on Kiev.

According to Trump, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz would lead a team of negotiators for the talks.

US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Rubio are also scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Munich on February 14.

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