Trump says 'we'll see' if US participates in Saturday Ukraine meeting

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump was noncommittal Thursday about potential US participation in a meeting of senior officials from Ukraine, Germany, France and the UK planned for this weekend.

Trump said the US would send a delegation to Saturday's meeting in Europe only if "there's a good chance" at securing an agreement on a plan to end Russia's war on its eastern European neighbor.

"We'll see whether or not we attend the meeting," Trump said. "They want me to attend. They want us to attend, and we'll be attending the meeting on Saturday in Europe if we think there's a good chance, and we don't want to waste a lot of time. We think it's negative. We want it to get settled. We want to save a lot of lives."

Trump did not specify where the sit-down is slated to take place, but the Axios news website pegged the location in Paris with national security advisors representing each nation at the talks.

Currently, Secretary of State Marco Rubio serves as Trump's national security advisor, one of several roles he has assumed over the nearly 11-month Trump administration.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that he held "productive" discussions with the American delegation comprised of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The talks, he said, focused on Ukraine’s reconstruction and proposed revisions to a 20-point plan to end the war.

He said the talks could be considered the "first meeting of the group" tasked with working on a document concerning the reconstruction and economic recovery of his country.