President Donald Trump revealed Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to attend the 2026 FIFA World Cup game in the United States and issued a new deadline for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
The president said he was hoping that a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would happen soon, as he spoke to reporters from the Oval Office on Friday, one week after his historic summit in Alaska with the Russian president.
He said it would clear within the next ‘two weeks’ whether or not the meeting would happen, leaning on a familiar timetable he’s used repeatedly during his second term.
‘I think over the next two weeks, we’re going to find out which way it’s going to go,’ he said. ‘And, I better be very happy.’
Trump again said he would respond with ‘massive sanctions’ or ‘massive tariffs‘ if the planned meeting did not happen – a pledge he’s promised before and failed to deliver on. He also left open the possibility of doing nothing at all.
The president spoke about Putin after announcing that the drawing for the 2026 FIFA World Cup would take place at the newly refurbished Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
‘I was just sent a picture from someone that wants to be there very badly, he’s been very respectful of me and our country but not so respectful of others,’ Trump said, reaching down to his desk to pick up the picture.
‘This is a man named Vladimir Putin,’ Trump said, displaying the photo for everyone in the room.
US President Donald Trump holds a photo of him with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska
US President Donald Trump holds a photo of him with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he said was sent to him by Putin
‘I thought it was a nice picture of him,’ he added. ‘Okay of me but nice of him.’
Trump said Putin ‘may or may not be coming’ to the games that will be held at stadiums in the United States, Mexico, and Canada in 2026.
American venues in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and New Jersey are expected to host the soccer games.
Trump expressed disapproval about an American factory in Ukraine that was recently struck by Russian forces.
‘I told him I’m not happy about it. I’m not happy about anything having to do with that war,’ Trump replied.
He repeated that the war would have ‘never happened’ if he was president.
‘This was caused by stupid people that fought,’ he said, adding that ‘Vladimir knew very strongly that we wouldn’t have stood for it.’
Despite the fanfare and imagery around last week’s summit, Putin launched one of his largest bombardment of missile and drone strikes this week in Kyiv and Lviv.
