Trump Signals Possible Meeting with Putin, Blames Zelenskyy for War in Ukraine
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated that he may meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month, while suggesting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy bears responsibility for Russia’s invasion.
Speaking at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate following U.S.-Russia negotiations in Saudi Arabia, Trump dismissed concerns that Ukraine had been excluded from talks aimed at ending the war. He asserted that Kyiv had ample time to negotiate peace and accused Zelenskyy of failing to prevent the conflict.
“I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it’s going very well. But today, I heard, ‘Oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it,” Trump said. “You should have never started it. You could have made a deal. I could have made a deal for Ukraine.”
The negotiations in Riyadh, led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, marked the first formal engagement between Washington and Moscow on Ukraine under Trump’s leadership. Trump expressed confidence in reaching an agreement, stating that Russia “wants to stop the savage barbarism.”
When asked whether he supported Russia’s push for elections in Ukraine as part of a peace deal, Trump claimed—without providing evidence—that Zelenskyy had an approval rating of just 4%. He suggested that Ukraine’s lack of elections under martial law was a matter of international concern.
Zelenskyy, speaking from Türkiye, rejected the notion that Ukraine could be sidelined in negotiations, stating that no decisions on the war’s outcome should be made “behind our backs.”
Meanwhile, European leaders have struggled to present a unified stance on the evolving situation. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed openness to sending peacekeeping troops, while French President Emmanuel Macron suggested deploying a limited force outside conflict zones. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, however, dismissed such discussions as premature, while Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk ruled out sending troops altogether.
Trump voiced support for European peacekeeping efforts but ruled out U.S. troop involvement. “If they want to do that, that’s great. I’m all for it,” he said.
With European leaders set to convene for further talks in Paris, the geopolitical landscape surrounding the war in Ukraine remains fluid, as Washington’s shifting stance raises concerns among its allies.
