President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on July 28, the White House confirmed on Friday, as Washington intensifies its diplomatic push to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“President Zelensky is slated to meet with President Trump at the White House on Tuesday,” a White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The meeting will take place the same day as a memorial service in Washington for US Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime supporter of Ukraine who died earlier this month at the age of 71.

Kyiv has not yet confirmed Zelensky’s attendance at the White House meeting or whether he will participate in the service honoring Graham.

The talks come as US-led diplomatic efforts remain stalled. Zelensky said this week that he had spoken with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in an attempt to restart negotiations aimed at ending the nearly four-year war.

Washington’s focus on diplomacy has also been complicated by the recent Iran war, which has diverted US attention. Trump is scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the same day as his talks with Zelensky.

The meeting comes just days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Manila, where the two discussed the war in Ukraine but failed to make any visible progress toward a negotiated settlement.

Following the roughly 35-minute meeting on Thursday, Rubio said Washington remained committed to helping end the war but acknowledged that previous diplomatic proposals had reached a dead end, suggesting “new suggestions and new ideas” would be needed to move negotiations forward.

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