Trump to meet Zelenskyy, Syria's al-Sharaa at NATO summit
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- Trump plans to meet Ukraine's Zelenskyy and Syria's al-Sharaa on Wednesday at the NATO summit in Turkey, per White House spokesperson Anna Kelly.
- Zelenskyy said after a Saturday call with Trump there is "a real prospect of ending this war," with the two discussing front lines where analysts say Russian advances have "sputtered."
- Putin also phoned Trump on Saturday, with Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov saying Trump reaffirmed "readiness to help achieve a quick cessation of hostilities"; Trump is expected to follow up with Putin after meeting Zelenskyy.
- Al-Sharaa, who led Islamic insurgent forces that ousted Bashar Assad, has rejected Trump's repeated suggestion that Syria fight Hezbollah in place of Israel.
- Trump is also scheduled to meet Turkey's President Erdogan on Tuesday and hold a Wednesday news conference before returning to the United States.
- The Russia-Ukraine war is now in its fifth year, and a senior U.S. official said Trump feels urgency to end the conflict.
Why it matters: By pairing a Wednesday Zelenskyy sit-down with a planned Putin follow-up, Trump is positioning himself as the principal broker on a war that has now stretched past four years; the parallel meeting with Syria's al-Sharaa — a former insurgent leader — underscores how far Trump is willing to expand that diplomatic aperture to reshape regional pressure on Hezbollah.
