US President Donald Trump raised hopes of a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia Monday as he gave President Volodymyr Zelensky a friendly welcome for high-stakes talks at the White House.

The meeting is the first since an acrimonious row between the two men in the Oval Office in February, and comes just days after Trump held a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Despite an apparent gulf over concessions that Trump has pushed Ukraine to make to Russia, the US leader said there was a “good chance” of ending the conflict sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

He said he would be talking to Putin by telephone later Monday and hoped for a three-way meeting with the Kremlin leader and Zelensky.

“I think if everything works out well today we’ll have a

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