U.S. President Donald J. Trump confirmed reports that he called Russian President Putin during his meeting with European leaders and said that a sit down between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war is being arranged.
During a day full of crunch peace talks with leaders from the United Kingdom, the European Union, NATO, and Ukraine, President Trump broke off to personally call Moscow, arrange a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky, and an ultimately set up a “trilat” three-way meeting in which he will act as mediator for a final peace agreement.
Before the breakthrough by the president on Monday afternoon, the Kremlin had been reticent over agreeing to any face-to-face talks with Zelensky, opting only to negotiate through the Trump White House.
However, writing on Truth Social, Mr Trump said: “At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself.
“Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, are coordinating with Russia and Ukraine.”
While European leaders, such as French President Emmanuel Macron, attempted to push for a “quadrilateral” meeting, it appears that this will not be on the cards. Similarly, it appears that demands from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for a ceasefire before final negotiations to end the war were also rebuffed by President Trump.
Nevertheless, the movement towards a peace deal was hailed by European leaders. Finnish President Alexander Stubb, whose nation shares a long border with Russia, remarked per The Times of London: “In the past two weeks, we’ve probably had more progress in ending this war than we have in the past three and a half years.”
Although some sticking points remain to be negotiated between Ukraine and Russia, namely on territory and NATO membership, it appears that American commitment to provide some security guarantees has pushed negotiations forward.
Without providing too much detail on the extent of possible U.S. involvement in a peace scenario, President Trump said that the “guarantees would be provided by the various European Countries, with coordination with the United States of America.”
Mr Trump also predicted that he expects a deal to be struck in the coming weeks, saying, per Euronews: “I don’t think there’s any issue that’s overly complex. It’s at a point now where people want to do things.
“I’ve known him for a long time, I’ve always had a great relationship with him. I think that President Putin wants to find an answer too and we’ll see in a certain period of time, not very far from now, a week or two weeks, we’re going to know whether or not we’re going to solve this.”
“We’ll do our best to get it ended, and I believe we have two willing parties.”
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