US President Donald Trump will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on the sidelines of this week’s NATO summit in Ankara, the White House said Sunday.
Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly confirmed the meetings in a call with reporters previewing Trump’s schedule for the NATO summit in Ankara.
The July 7-8 summit in Ankara will bring together leaders of NATO’s 32 member states at a time of continuing concern over Russia’s war in Ukraine, instability in the Middle East and questions about Washington’s long-term commitment to the alliance.
Trump’s meeting with Zelensky comes amid renewed efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, which began with Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
“The president’s obviously getting together with him to talk about how we can end the war. That’s been a priority of his for a long time,” a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the Zelensky meeting.
The official said Trump would “follow up” with Russian President Vladimir Putin afterward.
Trump spoke separately by phone with Putin and Zelensky on Saturday during calls marking the 250th anniversary of US independence.
Trump and Zelensky last met during the G7 summit in France in June, where leaders agreed to increase pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Their relationship has at times been tense. During a heated Oval Office meeting in February 2025, Trump told Zelensky that Ukraine did not have the “cards” to win.
Trump’s planned meeting with al-Sharaa comes after he repeatedly suggested that Damascus could become involved militarily in Lebanon, where Israel and Hezbollah are at war.
Al-Sharaa, whom Trump hosted at the White House last year, denied in June that Syria wanted to intervene militarily in Lebanon, saying Damascus was seeking “economic channels between Lebanon and Syria, not military ones.”
Syria dominated Lebanon for decades after intervening militarily in the country’s 1975-1990 civil war and withdrew its forces only in 2005, making any suggestion of renewed Syrian military involvement highly sensitive.
© Agence France-Presse