Trump to meet with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and Syria’s al-Sharaa during the NATO summit

Trump to meet with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and Syria’s al-Sharaa during the NATO summit 1 of 2 | A man walks past a banner ahead of the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, July 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Riza Ozel) 2 of 2 | President Donald Trump speaks at Salute to America, an Independence Day event honoring the nation’s 250th anniversary, Saturday, July 4, 2026, on the National Mall in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) By MICHELLE L. PRICE Updated 8:40 PM MESZ, July 5, 2026 Leer en español Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Wednesday while attending the NATO summit in Turkey, the White House said. Those discussions will come as Kyiv tries to refocus Trump’s attention on the conflict with Moscow and as Trump has publicly mused about Syria’s role in the Middle East. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly confirmed the meetings in a call with reporters while previewing the upcoming summit in Ankara, where Trump also plans to meet with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday. Before returning to the United States on Wednesday, Trump is scheduled to have a news conference, Kelly said. Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy comes as Russia’s war in Ukraine is now in its fifth year. Both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin held phone calls with Trump on Saturday, congratulating him on the July Fourth commemoration of the 250th anniversary of American independence. Zelenskyy said in a statement on X after his call that he and Trump spoke about the situation on the front lines of the war, where analysts say Russian advances have sputtered. Ukraine, has stepped up its attacks on Moscow and demonstrated its ability to strike deeper into Russia. 1 killed in attack on Crimea as Putin and Zelenskyy hold separate Trump calls 2 MIN READ Ukrainian drones hit St Petersburg oil terminal in latest long-range attack on Russia 3 MIN READ 106 Putin shrugs off fuel shortages in Russia as he ramps up attacks on Ukraine 5 MIN READ 51 The Ukrainian leader said there is “a real prospect of ending this war,” and that conversation would continue at the NATO summit in Ankara. Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that in Putin’s call with Trump, the Republican president reaffirmed his “readiness to help achieve a quick cessation of hostilities and search for peaceful solutions to settle the crisis” in Ukraine. A senior U.S. official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity on Sunday to describe the administration’s approach said Trump feels a sense of urgency to bring the war to an end and will speak to Zelenskyy about how to do that. Trump is expected to follow up with Putin after his meeting with Zelenskyy in Ankara, the official said. U.S. officials did not provide any details about the goals for Trump’s meeting with al-Sharaa. As Trump has grown frustrated with Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has complicated negotiations in the Iran war, the U.S. leader has repeatedly stunned many in the region by suggesting that Syria instead fight Hezbollah. Al-Sharaa, who led an Islamic insurgent group and whose rebel forces ousted Bashar Assad as Syria’s president, has said he has no interest in doing so. He has suggested Trump’s comments were misconstrued, even as Trump has repeated them. MICHELLE L. PRICE Price covers the White House. She previously covered the 2024 presidential campaign and politics, government and other news in New York, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. She is based in Washington. twitter mailto