ISTANBUL 

The White House may invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Alaska, where Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump will meet to discuss ending the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, according to NBC News on Sunday.

NBC News reported, citing a senior US official and unnamed people briefed on internal discussions, that the issue is being discussed but there are no finalized plans for a visit by the Ukrainian president, and that whether Zelenskyy would be in Alaska for meetings remains unclear but "absolutely" possible.

“Everyone is very hopeful that would happen,” the report further said, citing the senior US official.

It also reported a senior White House official saying that Trump remained open to the idea of a trilateral meeting involving Putin and Zelenskyy.

“Right now, the White House is focusing on planning the bilateral meeting requested by President Putin,” the senior White House official added, according to the report.

The report comes as Trump and Putin are set to discuss ending the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine during a meeting in Alaska on Friday, in what will be the first face-to-face meeting between sitting Russian and US presidents since June 2021, when Putin met then-US President Joe Biden in Geneva, Switzerland.

On Saturday, European leaders welcomed Trump's efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war but reiterated the need that a solution to the ongoing armed conflict must protect both Kyiv and Europe’s “vital security interests.”

“The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, Putin told journalists after meeting his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Moscow on Thursday that he has nothing against a trilateral meeting including Zelenskyy, but reaffirmed the need to create the necessary conditions for such talks.