President Donald Trump has set a precondition for any meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, requiring the Russian leader to also meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, New York Post reported on 7 August.

The developments follow a three-hour meeting between Putin and Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on 6 August. Ushakov described it as “useful and constructive,” while Trump subsequently claimed “significant progress” was achieved during that encounter.

“Putin must meet with Zelenskyy for the meeting to occur,” a White House official told The Post. “No location has been set.”

The condition comes after Moscow claimed on 7 August that Russia and the United States had agreed “in principle” to hold a one-on-one meeting between Putin and Trump. Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said that “an agreement was agreed in principle to hold a bilateral summit meeting in the coming days, that is, a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump,” which he said was made “at the suggestion of the American side.”

However, the White House had not confirmed any bilateral meeting. Trump himself expressed skepticism about Putin’s intentions during a Wednesday press conference, noting he has “been disappointed before” by Moscow’s promises of seeking peace.

“He talks nice and then he bombs everybody,” Trump said, referring to Putin’s pattern of private peace pledges followed by aerial attacks on Ukrainian civilians.

Trump indicated he would determine Putin’s seriousness about ending the war “within a matter of weeks, maybe less.” The president expressed concern about hosting a bilateral meeting ahead of a trilateral one, fearing Putin might continue to “tap along” Trump with meaningless talks.

The Kremlin appears resistant to including Zelenskyy in any initial meeting.

“First of all, we propose to focus on the preparation of a bilateral meeting with Trump and we consider the main thing that this meeting should be successful and effective,” Ushakov said.