U.S. President Trump [EPA=Yonhap News Agency, Re-distribution and DB prohibited]

(WASHINGTON=Yonhap News) Correspondent Cho Joon-hyung = U.S. President Donald Trump announced on the 18th (local time) that he has begun coordinating to hold a bilateral summit between Russia and Ukraine, the two parties involved in the Ukraine war.

In a post on the social media platform Truth Social after concluding meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House on the same day, President Trump wrote, "I called (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin and began coordinating a meeting between President Putin and (Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelensky," adding that the meeting location would be decided later.

President Trump further stated, "After that meeting takes place, we will have a trilateral meeting with me joining the two presidents."

If the Russia-Ukraine summit mentioned by President Trump is realized, it will be the first meeting between the leaders of the two warring nations since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ultimately, President Trump appears to be planning to have the two parties in the war engage in direct talks regarding territorial redefinition, the biggest sticking point in discussions for ending the war, and then, if an agreement is reached, officially declare the end of the war in a trilateral meeting in which he would participate.

In addition, regarding his diplomatic schedule of consecutive meetings with President Zelensky and European leaders from Britain, Germany, and France on the same day, President Trump stated, "We discussed security guarantees for Ukraine," and that the security guarantees would be provided by "various European countries in coordination with the United States of America."

He added, "Everyone is very happy about the possibility of peace for Russia and Ukraine," and assessed that the meeting on the day was "a very good initial step towards ending a war that has lasted for almost four years."

With recent progress made on the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine, one of the two major challenges in seeking an exit from the Ukraine war, it is anticipated that the territorial redefinition issue, which will be discussed if direct talks between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders are held, will effectively determine the end of the war.

jhcho@yna.co.kr

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