House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) isn't buying the White House's Russia strategy. Not even a little. After the administration invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the December G20 summit in Miami, Jeffries took to X on Wednesday to question whether the same president who invited Putin is really going to turn around and sanction Russia for its brutal war against Ukraine.
"The President just invited Vladimir Putin to the G-20 summit in Miami," Jeffries wrote. "But we're supposed to believe Trump will sanction Russia for its brutal war against Ukraine. Get real."
It's a fair question. Inviting a leader to a summit and sanctioning his country aren't mutually exclusive, but the optics are, shall we say, complicated.
Rubio Confirms the Invite
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed Wednesday that the U.S. invited Putin to the G20 summit, scheduled for December in Miami. He said another Trump-Putin summit "hasn't been discussed," but Trump is "willing to engage and meet with virtually anyone."
"In order to solve problems you have to meet with people that you disagree with," Rubio said, adding that the G20 would give Putin "an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president but with other world leaders."
"The ideal would be a meeting in which there will be a result, an outcome," the Secretary of State said. He added that Putin's attendance at the G20 would give Trump and Putin "an opportunity for them to interact and talk."
Zelenskyy Pushes for a Three-Way Meeting
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Trump to arrange a trilateral meeting with Putin to accelerate efforts to end the Ukraine war. He also proposed an "energy ceasefire" and asked Trump to engage Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying Xi "has influence on Putin."
Zelenskyy said he was ready to meet Trump and Putin "anytime when all the sides will be ready," while Trump said, "We will get that one done."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting premature and a "waste of time" before expert-level talks. Earlier, Putin said there was a chance of reaching a peace agreement and that the U.S. and China were willing to support a settlement. Trump later said he would meet Putin "immediately" if Moscow were ready to pursue a peace deal.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by MarketDash editors.
