Putin-Zelenskyy meet agreed: White House announces Putin ready for bilateral meet; trilateral talks an option 'if necessary'

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to hold a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy .

Leavitt said, “President Trump spoke with President Putin by phone, and he agreed to begin the next phase of the peace process, a meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy”.

She added that “if necessary, by a trilateral meeting between President Putin, President Zelensky, and President Trump”.

Leavitt also said that Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff would “continue to coordinate with Russia and Ukraine to make this happen as soon as possible.”

“I can assure you that the United States government and the Trump administration is working with both Russia and Ukraine to make that bilateral happen as we speak”, Leavitt said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking on Tuesday, said Moscow was open to all formats of engagement. “We do not reject any working formats – neither bilateral, nor trilateral, the president has repeatedly mentioned this,” according to Russian state media TASS.

The announcement came a day after Zelenskyy and several European leaders gathered at the White House for discussions following President Trump’s high-stakes summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska.