US President Donald Trump has announced that "high-level" US representatives will meet with their Russian counterparts at the Munich Security Conference on Friday to discuss a solution to the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart spoke for nearly 90 minutes by phone on Wednesday, marking the first direct interaction between Russian and US heads of state since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. On Thursday, Trump said the call had paved the way for further direct contacts between US and Russian officials.
"They're going to have a meeting tomorrow in Munich. Russia will be there with our people," Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
Trump added that "Ukraine is also invited, by the way," but did not specify the format of the meeting or clarify whether it would be a trilateral dialogue or a series of bilateral talks.
"I'm not sure exactly who will be there from any country, but high-level people from Russia, from Ukraine and from the United States," the American leader added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Thursday that the fact that the two presidents had expressed a willingness to engage in dialogue was a "very important achievement" that "has set in motion an apparatus of aides, ministers and so on, which will now gradually start the dialogue and prepare future contacts."
"Now that the leaders have demonstrated political will and given their aides the necessary instructions to start communication, we ask for some patience. These discussions need time to gain momentum," Peskov said.