Trump-Putin-Zelenskyy summit floated in secret Moscow talks: Report
CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly proposed a trilateral summit between Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy during secret talks in Moscow. While the US is pushing for a diplomatic breakthrough to end the war, Ukrainian officials remain skeptical of Russian intentions.
Why it matters
This indicates a high-level, covert diplomatic effort by the US administration to resolve the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe proposed a trilateral meeting between US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his covert trip to Moscow this week, in a bid to revive efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, Axios reported, citing two people briefed on the matter.Ratcliffe's visit marked his first personal involvement in the Trump administration's diplomatic push to break the deadlock between Russia and Ukraine. He met Russian intelligence chiefs Sergey Naryshkin, head of the SVR foreign intelligence service, and FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov during his trip on Tuesday.According to the sources cited by Axios, Ratcliffe's talks partly focused on whether Russia's intelligence leadership could help persuade Putin to return to US-mediated negotiations with Ukraine.US officials briefed Zelenskyy on Friday about Ratcliffe's discussions in Moscow and the proposal for a three-way summit.
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