Ukrainian President wants to meet with Trump before Putin
Diplomats are working to organize a soon forthcoming meeting between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his American counterpart Donald Trump, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Konstantin Yeliseyev said on Friday, March 10, in an interview with hromadske.ua.
"Currently, our diplomats are actively working to ensure that this meeting will be held as soon as possible. But it is fundamentally important that it take place before the upcoming meeting between President Trump and the Russian president," the official said.
He noted that in preparation for the meeting between Poroshenko and Trump, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin visited the United States, where he held talks with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Advisor Raymond McMaster.
Yeliseyev also noted that the Ukraine president will soon visit Washington and explained that topics for the meeting between Poroshenko and Trump are being worked out. The specific dates have yet to be determined, he emphasized.
On February 9, Poroshenko said that his meeting with Donald Trump will take place in the near future.
Trump and Poroshenko held a phone meeting on the night of February 5.
At the end of February, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced the start of preparations for the meeting between the American and Russian presidents, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Earlier in the month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin and Trump would meet at the G20 summit in Hamburg in July this year.
The presidents of Russia and the US have talked twice on the phone. The last conversation took place on January 28 and lasted about 45 minutes.