UNITED STATES President Donald Trump could hold a trilateral summit meeting with Russia and Ukraine as early as Friday, according to a US-based website.

Axios, a news site founded by ex-Politico staff, reported today that sources had said Mr Trump announced the meeting during a telephone call with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders, following last Friday’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A second report by The New York Times on Saturday said that, following his meeting with Mr Putin, the US leader had told European leaders in a phone call that negotiating a peace deal could mean Ukraine giving up the rest of the Donbass region, including areas still under Ukrainian control.

A ceasefire freezing the battlefront, along with security guarantees for Kiev and Europe, would be offered in return.

Mr Zelensky is due in Washington DC on Monday to meet with Mr Trump alongside European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The White House had not provided a public summary of the calls last night, but the most notable takeaway was Mr Trump’s abrupt reversal on securing a ceasefire before a final peace deal.

Mr Putin has repeatedly said Moscow is not interested in a temporary truce and is seeking a long-term settlement to address what he says are the core issues behind its “Special Military Operation,” including the westward expansion of Nato.

Mr Trump said on social media on Saturday that it was agreed that “the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement, which would end the war — and not a mere ceasefire.”

Mr Merz told ZDF television that Mr Trump said “Russia seems to be prepared to conduct the negotiations based on the so-called line of contact and not the administrative boundaries.”

Mr Zelensky has previously refused to withdraw from the remaining 30 per cent of the Donetsk region that Ukraine controls. He says it would be unconstitutional and the territory could be used as a staging ground for later Russian attacks.

In a statement after the call with Mr Trump, major European leaders did not address whether a peace deal was preferable to a ceasefire, saying they “welcomed President Trump’s efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine, end Russia’s war of aggression and achieve just and lasting peace.”