European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was not on the call with Trump, a spokesperson for the Commission said on Thursday. But she was “extensively debriefed by several EU leaders,” the spokesperson told reporters.
The Kremlin confirmed on Thursday that the two leaders plan to meet “in the coming days.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that, following Special Envoy Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Putin, the U.S. government has a better understanding of the conditions under which Moscow would be prepared to end the war.
“We now have to compare that to what the Ukrainians and our European allies, but the Ukrainians primarily, of course, are willing to accept — and what you try to see is how far can you get these two positions closer,” Rubio told Fox Business.
“If we can get what the Ukrainians will accept and what the Russians will accept close enough, then I think there’s the opportunity for the president to have a meeting that includes both Putin and Zelenskyy to try to close this thing out,” Rubio said.
The diplomatic push comes after Trump upped the pressure on Putin by imposing an additional 25 percent tariff on India for buying Russian oil.