Washington: US President Donald Trump announced yesterday that negotiations to resolve the conflict in Ukraine are progressing and that the participants are “very close” to reaching an agreement, although no deadline has been set. Trump told reporters, “If I could do that, it would be a great honor. I think we’re very close.” He added, “We don’t have a deadline; we just want to get this done as quickly as possible.”

According to National Iraqi News Agency, for his part, Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Russian President, said yesterday that the three-hour meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s envoy in Moscow, was “constructive and useful.” Ushakov told reporters, “This meeting allowed us to bring the positions of Russia and the United States closer together, not only on Ukraine, but also on a number of other international issues.” He noted that “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine was discussed,” adding, “It is important that today’s meeting was held on the 80th anniversary of the historic encounter between Soviet and American forces on the Elbe River. This meeting symbolizes the military alliance between our two countries in the fight against Nazism.”