White House insists Putin has agreed to bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt has said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin has agreed to a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Source: Karoline Leavitt at a briefing on Tuesday, as reported by European Pravda

Quote: "The president [Donald Trump – ed.] has always said that there are areas of disagreement in this war that will have to be discussed and decided upon by these two countries. And so he wants these two countries to engage in direct diplomacy."

Details: Leavitt stated that in their conversations with Trump, both the Ukrainian and Russian leaders have "expressed a willingness to sit down with each other, and so our national security team will help both countries do that".

Asked whether Putin had confirmed his readiness to hold a bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy to Trump, Leavitt said he had.

Quote: "It was an idea that evolved in the course of the president's conversations with both President Putin, President Zelenskyy and the European leaders yesterday. And as you saw, with all of those European leaders leaving the White House, including the NATO secretary general, they all agree that this is a great first step." [N.B. Ukrainska Pravda does not recognise Putin as president – ed.]

Background: 

• Trump said on Monday after speaking to Putin that he is working on arranging talks between Putin and Zelenskyy.
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Russia has no objection to either a bilateral or a trilateral format to resolve its war against Ukraine.

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