Trump to Meet With Putin 'Soon'        05/16 06:10

   

   ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- President Donald Trump said Friday 
he's moving to set up direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin as 
soon as he can, after Putin opted to skip peace talks between Russia and 
Ukraine in Turkey.

   "I think it's time for us to just do it," Trump told reporters as he wrapped 
a four-day visit to the Middle East.

   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."

   Trump reiterated that he wasn't surprised that Putin skipped out on the 
talks set for Friday in Turkey. Putin didn't want to go because he's not there, 
Trump said.

   The Republican president added that he would hold a meeting with Putin "as 
soon as we can set it up."

   "I would actually leave here and go," said Trump, who noted his daughter 
Tiffany just gave birth to her first child. "I do want to see my beautiful 
grandson."

   Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to take part in the talks as 
Trump pressed for the leaders to find a solution to the war, ongoing since 
Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. But Putin spurned the call to meet 
face-to-face with Zelenskyy.

   Trump has pressed both sides to quickly come to a war-ending agreement. 
Zelenskyy has agreed to an American plan for an initial 30-day halt to 
hostilities, but Russia has not signed on and has continued to strike at 
targets inside Ukraine.

   Still, Russia and Ukraine were holding their first direct peace talks in 
three years Friday, gathering in Istanbul for negotiations. Officials and 
observers expect them to yield little immediate progress on stopping the more 
than 3-year-old war.

   "He didn't go, and I understand that," Trump said. "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."

   Trump on Thursday told reporters that a meeting between himself and Putin 
was crucial to breaking the deadlock.

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