A European diplomat briefed on the White House exchange described it as a mess and said Trump also “went on and on” about “his grievances of not having gotten the Nobel Peace Prize”.
On the conflict, “the message was that Russia only wants Donbas and this is a good deal and Putin wants to end the war, and it can be done quickly”, the diplomat said.
Zelensky speaks to the media outside the White House after meeting with Trump.Credit: AP
Trump, however, emerged from the meeting with Zelensky calling for a ceasefire along the front line, a stance that the Ukrainian president has endorsed publicly, but the Kremlin has not.
Parts of the Trump-Zelensky meeting were originally reported by the Financial Times on Sunday.
Asked if he urged Zelensky to give up Donbas, Trump later said he hadn’t. “Let it be cut the way it is. … Leave it the way it is now,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
“They can negotiate something later on down the line,” he added. But for now, both sides of the conflict should “stop at the battle line – go home, stop fighting, stop killing people”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, responding to questions on Monday about freezing the conflict along existing front lines, said the issue “has been raised repeatedly with various nuances during contacts between Russia and the US”. He said Russia’s position remained unchanged.
Putin told Trump during their call that Russian forces had “the strategic initiative” along the front lines, according to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov.
Trump’s decision to push Putin’s demands with Zelensky again quashed European hopes that Washington might come to Ukraine’s rescue or boost its leverage in talks. It also piles fresh pressure on Kyiv’s chief backers in Europe to maintain the flow of cash and weapons.
European diplomats have long suggested they acquiesced to the idea that Ukraine will have to concede land in any future US-brokered settlement by freezing the front line. But they have backed Zelensky by insisting that Kyiv would not voluntarily cede any territory to Moscow that it does not control militarily.
While Russian forces have taken much of Donbas, they have tried and failed to seize the entirety of the heavily fortified Donetsk region in that corner of eastern Ukraine in over a decade of fighting.
In his call with Trump, Putin suggested he could give up claims to parts of two other Ukrainian regions that Russia has not entirely conquered, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, in exchange for full control of Donetsk, The Washington Post reported.
Zelensky said to journalists that he believes Putin “wants to show that he ‘won’ the war – and for that, he needs the administrative borders of Donbas”.
“But here’s the thing,” he added, “who says he won’t go further in a few years? Who can guarantee that?”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Zelensky says could resume aggression in a few years, even if peace returns to Ukraine.Credit: AP
The European official said the White House visit was not as disastrous as an infamous Oval Office public shouting match early this year but that Zelensky, who later held a call with some European leaders, had left disappointed.
“None of us should put pressure on Zelensky when it comes to territorial concessions,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said after the meeting. “One thing is absolutely clear: Europe’s solidarity with Ukraine against Russia’s aggression is today more important than ever before.”
The first person briefed on the meeting said it remained unclear what exactly had swayed Trump, after the president had talked of Ukraine retaking its full territory and expressed frustration with Putin over stalled negotiations. “He can flip back. You never know.”
The European diplomat, however, said it seemed that “Putin knew what he was doing and got through to Trump”. There were “concerns among Europeans” once again that “things are backsliding”, the diplomat said.
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For months, the Kremlin and European leaders have jostled for Trump’s ear, adjusting to his policy changes on the war and his ambition for a peace deal. Trump’s focus on the deal more than the details, has at times left all sides frustrated, while the president has voiced irritation with both Kyiv and Moscow throughout his efforts to stop the conflict.
Leaders of the EU’s 27 nations will deliberate this week on a response to Trump’s latest pivot and on ways to bolster Ukraine, including with a plan to use Russia’s frozen assets in the form of a “reparation loan” and with more sanctions against Moscow.
Yet agreement to tap into Russian frozen assets could still take time.
The plan, strongly condemned by Moscow, has met concern from Belgium, where much of the assets are held, and objections from Hungary’s Kremlin-friendly prime minister, Viktor Orban.
Also on the European agenda is a possible Trump-Putin summit in the coming weeks.
After his call with Putin, Trump said the two could meet soon in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, much to the consternation of many EU leaders except Orban.
European foreign ministers reiterated praise of Trump’s peacemaking attempts, but some voiced dismay at the idea of Putin visiting Hungary for the talks.
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Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said there was no place for Putin “in any of our capitals”.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the Russian leader’s visit to an EU member state would only make sense if it brought an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire”.
The Washington Post
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