Servicemen of the 32nd Separate Mechanised Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fire a D-20 howitzer toward Russian troops from the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region on Feb 06, 2025 — Reuters file photo NEW YORK, Feb 17 (AFP/Reuters): US President Donald Trump said Sunday he could meet "very soon" with Vladimir Putin, adding he believes his Russian counterpart genuinely wants to stop fighting in Ukraine.
"No time set, but it could be very soon," Trump told reporters, hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to play down expectations of upcoming high-level talks in Riyadh on ending the war.
With Rubio set to lead a high-level American delegation at the discussions with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia's capital in the coming days, a flurry of diplomacy was taking place as the brutal Ukraine war nears its third anniversary.
Russian troops have sharply stepped up their attacks in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv's military said on Sunday, as a NATO official predicted Moscow would increase the pace and intensity of its assaults with talks to end the war approaching.
The main attacks were concentrated near the imperilled logistics hub of Pokrovsk, Kyiv said, with US and Russian officials expected to hold talks in the coming days in Saudi Arabia and US President Donald Trump pushing for peace.
Kyiv's military reported 261 combat engagements with Russia over a 24-hour period on Saturday, easily the largest number recorded this year and more than double the roughly 100 per day it reported in previous days.
"Today was the hardest day of 2025 at the front," the Ukrainian DeepState military blog wrote late on Saturday.
Ukrainian drones struck a key pumping station at a major international pipeline in southern Russia disrupting supplies from Kazakhstan, the operator said Monday.
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