White House now says Trump ‘open’ to meeting Putin without his meeting Zelenskyy

President Trump is “open” to meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the White House said Thursday after earlier pushing for Putin to meet with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy first.

​President Trump is “open” to meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the White House said Thursday after earlier pushing for Putin to meet with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy first.   

The White House on Thursday pushed back on claims by the Kremlin that a meeting between President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin had been agreed to with a location secured.

A White House official told ABC News that no location has been set and that President Putin must meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the meeting with Trump to occur — something the Kremlin has not been willing to commit to so far.

Putin adviser Yuri Ushakov said earlier Thursday that a “meeting between Putin and Trump (will take place) in the coming days,” adding that “work on the summit has now begun,” the Kremlin said.

Ushakov said that White House special envoy Steve Witkoff had raised the idea of a trilateral meeting between Putin, Trump and Zelenskyy but that the upcoming meeting would only be between Trump and Putin, the Kremlin said.

Witkoff was in Moscow on Wednesday ahead of Trump’s Friday deadline for Russia to make peace with Ukraine or face severe sanctions.

“The venue of the meeting between the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, has been agreed, and the Kremlin will inform about it later,” Ushakov said on Thursday.

Though no specific location was disclosed, Ushakov suggested that Russia was “many friends who are ready to help us organize such events.”

“One of them is the President of the United Arab Emirates. I think we will decide, but it would be one of the most suitable, quite suitable places,” Ushakov said.

Zelenskyy said Thursday that Ukraine and Europe should be part of talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war, which began in February 2022 when Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine.

“The war is happening in Europe, and Ukraine is an integral part of Europe — we are already in negotiations on EU accession,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X. “Therefore, Europe must be a participant in the relevant processes.”

Zelenskyy said security officials from Ukraine, Europe and the U.S. would be meeting Thursday “to align our joint views.”

“Yesterday, various potential formats for leader-level meetings to bring peace were also discussed — two bilateral and one trilateral,” he added. “Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side.”

A White House official said on Wednesday a bilateral meeting between Trump and Putin could happen as soon as next week.

Trump himself was less committal when asked about the potential for a meeting between him and Putin, saying he’s been “disappointed before” but that there was “very good prospect” of a summit between Putin and Zelenskyy.

ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler, David Brennan and Shannon Kingston contributed to this report.