President Donald Trump hopes that Ukraine’s Voldymir Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin will hold peace talks directly. Will that happen?
Trump, Zelensky i Ukraine peace, potential for Putin Summit
President Donald Trump said there was a “rational opportunity” to end the war in Ukraine after talks with President Voldymee Zelensky.
With a bit of help from a European friend, dressed in a suit-like outfit instead of her trademark T-shirt, a hand letter from her wife for first lady Melania Trump, and a volley of “thank you,” Ukrainian President Voldian Zelensky attacked the public, whom he received during his previous visit.
But will that lead to the next obvious step towards peace with Russia? Meeting with President Vladmir Putin.
That’s what President Donald Trump seems to think.
“He wants to make a deal. He wants to make a deal. He wants to make a deal for me,” Trump got caught up in the hot microphone that Macron and six European leaders on August 18, who prepared to sit down with six other European leaders who had strengthened support for Zelensky and the Ukrain, and told France’s Emanufactor Macron, referring to Putin.
Many Ukrainians, European officials and political scientists questioned Trump’s commitment to Ukraine after rolling out Putin’s red carpet in Alaska on August 15th. After the summit concluded, Trump appeared to have repeatedly held Russia, repeated positions on peace talks, and imposed attractive sanctions on Russia.
In Washington, Trump told Zelensky that the US would help ensure Ukraine’s security in any deal to end the Russian war, but the scope of the promised support was not immediately clear. He also appeared to have rejected Ukraine’s important demand, the need for a ceasefire, before peace talks began. It remains entirely unclear whether Ukraine is willing to give up territory stolen by Russia before and during the war to achieve peace.
Zelenskyy says land-produced invasions have been a non-starter since 2022, when the full-scale Russian invasion began.
I’m waiting for Putin
Still, Putin’s factors could be cloudier than all these unknown elements.
After Monday’s meeting, Trump said he called Putin. According to Yuri Ushakov, a Russian foreign policy advisor, it was around midnight in Moscow.
They spoke for about 40 minutes.
In a post on his true social media platform, Trump said he had called Putin to begin arranging talks between the Russian leader and Zelensky. He said he wanted to hold in-person talks at a place where Putin and Zelensky were to be decided. Trump then joined Putin and Zelensky for a discussion aimed at pushing the two fighting sides closer together.
Zelenskyy described the talks with Trump as “the best” so far. Trump said they were “very good.”
German Prime Minister Friedrich Merz has shown that a meeting could occur within the next two weeks. French President Emmanuel Macron proposed Geneva as a possible location.
Planning an in-person meeting sounds simple. That may not be the case, according to Phillips O’Brien, a historian and professor of strategic war studies at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. O’Brien closely tracked the war with his daily newsletter. On August 19th, O’Brien wrote that Putin Zelensky “may or not.”
Initially, for over three years, Moscow repeated the idea of Putin Zelensky’s sit-in. The two leaders are bitter enemies. Putin performs the inexplicable thing when it’s a powerful geopolitical playbook on all accounts. Trump’s own relationship with both Putin and Zelensky is meandering, hot, cool and hot.
Moscow itself did not shed any immediate, clear light.
“This idea was debated as worth exploring the possibility of raising the level of representatives from the Ukraine and Russia aspects, meaning representatives participating in the direct negotiations mentioned,” Kremlin aide Ushakov said in response to the proposed Putin Zelenkie meeting, which later said Trump would feature Trump in the Kremlin.
