Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed today that a meeting with his American counterpart Donald Trump is planned for next week. Regarding a possible meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he said that this is possible, but that the appropriate conditions must be met, which he said is still a long way off.

Putin, after talks today with the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed, mentioned this country as one of the possible venues for the meeting between the US and Russian presidents. He said that Russia has several friends who are ready to host his meeting with Trump, reports the German news agency dpa.

The Kremlin had previously said the meeting would take place"in the coming days," while Putin's adviser Yuri Ushakov said the target date for the meeting was next week. He did not say where the meeting would take place.

After the Ukrainian president again called today for a meeting between him and Putin to end the war in Ukraine, the Russian leader said he was ready to meet with Zelensky, but only"in the final stage" of negotiations to end the more than three-year war.

"In general, I have nothing against it, it is possible, but certain conditions need to be created for this. Unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions," he told reporters in the Kremlin, according to the French news agency AFP.