Trump Still Pressing Forward On Meeting Putin 'As Soon As We Can'

President Donald Trump said Friday as he wrapped up his four-day visit to the Middle East that the White House is still moving forward on setting up direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that this will happen as soon as possible.

"I think it’s time for us to just do it," Trump told reporters, addressing whether an in-person meeting will still happen. He added that a meeting with Putin will happen "as soon as we can set it up". He suggested that peace will ultimately only be possible if the two leaders sit at the same table.

That's when he said, interestingly that "I would actually leave here and go" - an apparent reference to Istanbul where rare Russia-Ukraine talks are being held Friday. But he referenced his daughter Tiffany having given birth to her first child. "I do want to see my beautiful grandson," he said.

"I don’t believe anything’s going to happen whether you like it or not, until he and I get together," Trump said further, in reference to his Russian counterpart. "But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying."

As we reported earlier, there are no signs of any breakthrough toward peace coming from the Istanbul meeting, which lasted less than two-hours; however, each side is signaling that it could lead to more talks.

On Putin's absence for the meeting, which was to be expected, Trump described, "He didn’t go, and I understand that," and that "We’re going to get it done. We got to get it done. Five thousand young people are being killed every single week on average, and we’re going to get it done."

But Ukraine is now trying to make the case that Putin was never interested in peace talks, and is using the process to string Washington along as its forces try to solidify greater hold over Ukraine's east.

One Amsterdam-based publication and Russia monitor writes of the less than prominent man Putin tapped to head Russia's delegation--

Medinsky was joined by Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin and Igor Kostyukov, the head of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency.

Experts have described Moscow’s revival of direct talks within the Istanbul framework as a symbolic gesture not intended to seek a real solution to the war.

Meanwhile, Trump has said while en route back to the United States from the Middle East that he'll likely phone Putin soon:

Trump later told reporters after boarding Air Force One to begin the journey back to Washington that he may call Putin soon.

“He and I will meet, and I think we’ll solve it or maybe not,” Trump said. “At least we’ll know. And if we don’t solve it, it’ll be very interesting.”

An actual Putin-Trump sit-down would be bad news for Kiev, which has seethed at being cut out of US-Russia bilateral engagement, given much of this engagement is related to the fate of Ukraine.

With the minerals deal signed, Zelensky is attempting to reset the rocky relationship with Trump. A lot of pressure has been coming from the US administration, urging Kiev to be willing to negotiate peace, which would require some level of significant concessions.