White House says Trump-Putin meeting 'not completely off the table'
A future meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin remains "not completely off the table," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Oct. 23.
"Look, the President has always maintained that he would implement sanctions on Russia when he felt it was appropriate and necessary, and yesterday was that day," Leavitt told reporters.
"The President has also long expressed his frustration with Vladimir Putin and, frankly, both sides of this war. He’s always said in order to negotiate a good peace deal, both sides need to be interested in a good peace deal."
Leavitt added that Trump has seen "not enough interest and enough action" from Russia to advance toward peace. “And so a meeting between these two leaders is not completely off the table,” she said. "The President and the entire administration hopes that one day that could happen again, but we want to make sure that there’s a tangible, positive outcome out of that meeting, and that it’s a good use of the President’s time."
Tim Zadorozhnyy
Her remarks came a day after the U.S. imposed its first sanctions on Moscow since Trump took office, targeting Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, as well as their subsidiaries. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the measures aim to pressure Russia into accepting a ceasefire. "Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire," Bessent said.
Trump, who announced the sanctions during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House, called it a “very big day in terms of what we’re doing. Those are against their two big oil companies, and we hope that they won’t be on for long. We hope that the war will be settled.”
Ukraine welcomed the decision. "For the first time in office as the 47th President of the United States of America, Washington has passed a decision to impose full blocking sanctions against Russian energy companies," Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Olha Stefanishyna, said.
The sanctions came after a wave of Russian missile and drone attacks on Oct. 22 that killed six people and injured at least 44 across Ukraine. A day later, more explosions and fires were reported in Kyiv during another Russian drone assault.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has continued to reject calls for a ceasefire and has reportedly insisted that Ukraine surrender all of Donetsk Oblast as a precondition for talks.
Olesia Bida
