*

White House says Trump open to meeting both Putin and

Zelenskiy

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Trump could meet them together after seeing Putin

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Trump has set a Friday deadline for Russia to agree to

peace in

Ukraine or face new sanctions

(Recasts first paragraph, adds White House comment in paragraph

2)

By Andrea Shalal and Jasper Ward

WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald

Trump could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as early

as next week - their first meeting since Trump's return to

office in January - a White House official said on Wednesday.

The official said a location for the possible meeting had

yet to be determined.

Separately, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt

said the Russian leader expressed a desire to meet Trump. She

said Trump was open to meeting both Putin and Ukrainian

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The New York Times ( NYT ), which was first to report the possible

meeting, said Trump would hold a trilateral meeting with Putin

and Zelenskiy after meeting the Russian leader. A source

familiar with the discussions said Trump told European leaders

that he would meet Putin.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump acknowledged having spoken with

European leaders after what Trump called a "highly productive"

meeting his special envoy Steve Witkoff had with Putin in

Russia.

While noting that great progress was made during the

meeting, Trump wrote on Truth Social: "Everyone agrees this War

must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days

and weeks to come."

Trump, who promised to end Russia's three-year-old war in

Ukraine on "Day One" of his second term, has since returning to

office in January had several phone calls with Putin and met

with Zelenskiy at the White House in February and on the

sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral in April.

In recent weeks, Trump has voiced increasing frustration

with Moscow over a lack of progress towards ending the conflict

and has set a Friday deadline for Russia to agree to peace in

Ukraine or face new sanctions.