MOSCOW: The Kremlin, asked on Monday about a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia, said that a meeting was necessary but that Putin had no trips to the Middle East planned for mid-May. Trump, who pledged to swiftly negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine shortly after retaking office, said over the weekend that he and his advisers have had "very good discussions" about Russia and Ukraine in recent days.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked by reporters about comments by Trump that he might considering meeting with Putin during a trip to Saudi Arabia this month, said the Kremlin chief had no trip there scheduled, but that "such a meeting is clearly on everyone's lips." "And in many ways we think it is certainly necessary," Peskov said. "It has to be prepared accordingly and it requires efforts at various expert levels," including continued contacts between Moscow and Washington, he added.
"But so far there are no specifics on this." Trump will travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE later this month to take part in a summit with Gulf leaders, Axios reported. Putin has not met a sitting US president since he held a summit in Geneva in June 2021 with Trump's predecessor Joe Biden.
Putin and Trump have spoken by phone several times this year as the US leader works to broker an end to the war. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces attacked Russia's western Kursk region on Monday, firing missiles, smashing through the border and then crossing minefields with special vehicles, according to Russian war bloggers.
Russia's top general said last month that Ukrainian troops had been ejected from the Kursk region, ending the biggest incursion into Russian territory since World War Two, and that Russia was carving out a buffer zone in the neighbouring Ukrainian region of Sumy.
"The enemy blew up bridges with rockets at night and launched an attack with armoured groups in the morning," The "RVvoenkor" war blogger said on Telegram.
"The mine clearance vehicles began to make passages in the minefields, followed by armored vehicles with troops. There is a heavy battle going on at the border." The Ukrainian attack in Kursk was reported by multiple other Russian bloggers including "The archangel of special forces" and Russian state television war correspondent Alexander Sladkov.
There was no immediate comment from either Russia or Ukraine, but Russian war bloggers published maps showing Ukrainian forces trying to push over the Russian border in two places towards Tyotkino. — Agencies
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