Trump hopes for constructive ‘feel out’ meeting with Putin, but says ‘not up to me to make deal’
Speaking in the White House in the last few minutes, US president Donald Trump has claimed his meeting with Putin will “a feel out meeting,” but he thought that the Russian president “wants to get it over with.”
He says:
“I’m going in to speak to Vladimir Putin, and I’m going to be telling him, you have got to end this war, you got to end it.”
He says he hopes for “a constructive” conversation with the Russian president, and says he will call the European leaders to debrief them on the chat shortly after leaving the room.
He then says:
“Then after that meeting, immediately, maybe as I’m flying out, maybe as I’m leaving the room, I I’ll be calling the European leaders who I get along with very well. And you know, I have a great relationship, I think, with all of them, and I get along with Zelensky, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done, very, very severely disagree. This is a war that should have never happened … but I’ll be speaking to Zelensky. The next meeting will be with Zelensky and Putin, or Zelensky, and Putin to me I’ll be there if they need me.”
He expressed some frustration with Zelenskyy again, saying:
“I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelensky was saying, Well, I have to get constitutional approval. I mean, he’s got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap?
Because there’ll be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody to the good for the good of Ukraine, good stuff, not bad stuff, also some bad stuff for both. So it’s good and there’s bad, but it’s very complex, because you have lines that are very uneven. And there’ll be some swapping, there’ll be some changes in land.”
He makes it clear he can negotiate the deal, but it will be up to Ukraine to accept or reject it.
“I’m going to meet with him [Putin]. We’re going to see what the parameters are, and then I’m going to call up President Zelensky and the European leaders … and I’m going to tell them what kind of a deal. I’m not going to make a deal. It’s not up to me to make a deal. I think a deal should be made for both.”
Ultimately, he says “I’d like to see a cease fire.”
I’d like to see the best deal that could be made for both parties. You know, it takes two to tango, right?
Key events
1h ago
Closing summary
1h ago
‘Going to get everybody’s ideas,’ Trump says as he confirms consultations with Zelenskyy, Europe before Putin meeting
1h ago
‘I will put two of them in room … and think it will get solved,’ Trump says
2h ago
‘I will know exactly whether or not deal can be made,’ Trump says
2h ago
Trump hopes for constructive ‘feel out’ meeting with Putin, but says ‘not up to me to make deal’
3h ago
European leaders set to join call with Zelenskyy, Trump on Wednesday
4h ago
EU leaders push to consult with Trump ahead of Putin meeting on Ukraine
4h ago
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6h ago
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6h ago
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7h ago
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7h ago
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8h ago
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8h ago
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8h ago
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9h ago
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9h ago
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9h ago
Morning opening: Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine
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Closing summary
Jakub Krupa
… and on that note, it’s a wrap!
US president Donald Trump said he was hoping for a “constructive” meeting to “feel out” the Russian position on Ukraine, claiming he “would know exactly” whether a deal could be made – but it wouldn’t be ultimately up to him to make it (16:44, 16:47).
Trump expressed some annoyance with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his comments on the summit, but insisted he would talk to him about next steps and call him first after the meeting “out of respect.”
He also confirmed plans to extensively consult with Ukraine and European leaders before the meeting (18:00).
This comes after an earlier report from Berlin that Germany plans a phone call between a group of European leaders, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Trump and vice-president JD Vance on Wednesday, so the parties can coordinate before Trump’s meeting with Putin on Friday (16:21).
The virtual call is expected to be attended by representatives of Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the UK, as well as the EU and Nato, who will have a chat first before joining Trump and Vance (16:33).
The move comes after growing calls from European leaders to not get excluded them from this Friday’s Trump-Putin summit in Alaska (15:43), with Polish prime minister Donald Tusk revealing earlier that the US promised to consult the Europeans before the meeting (11:25).
EU foreign ministers are meeting this afternoon to discuss the issue and the bloc’s position before the talks.
In other news,
Large parts of south-western Europe were seeing extreme temperatures on Monday, with growing concerns about possible further wildfires (12:15, 13:57, 14:01, 14:11, 14:13, 15:19).
Finland’s national prosecutor’s office said it has brought charges against the captain and first and second officers of the Eagle S oil tanker over cutting of undersea cables in the Gulf on Finland in December last year (13:20).
French president Emmanuel Macron has warned that Israel’s plans to increase its military presence in Gaza amounted to “a disaster waiting to happen” (13:39).
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today. Have a great weekend!
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com.
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
Updated at 12.01 EDT
‘Going to get everybody’s ideas,’ Trump says as he confirms consultations with Zelenskyy, Europe before Putin meeting
And Trump has just confirmed that he will be talking to the European leaders before his meeting with Putin, too.
He praises them as “great people, great leaders,” but claims they are “tired” of the war and “want to get back to spending money on their countries.”
He says he shas “extremely good” relationship with European leaders and confirms he will be taking to them, making a joke that there are “a lot of European leaders, but they rely on me.”
“So I’m talking to the European leaders, I’ll be talking to President Zelenskyy. I’m going to get everybody’s ideas.
I go into that thing fully loaded right up there, and we’re going to see what happens.
Now, I think one of two things is going to happen. It could be a good meeting, and we’ll go a step further. We’ll get it done. I’d like to see a ceasefire very, very quickly, very quick. I’d like to see it immediately …
And [so] we’re going to be dealing with the European leaders, and we’re going to be dealing with President Zelenskyy, and hopefully we’re going to have a great success.”
Share‘I will put two of them in room … and think it will get solved,’ Trump says
Explaining his plan to end the war, Trump sums it up as:
“Ultimately, I’m going to put the two of them in a room, I’ll be there or won’t be there, and I think it’ll get solved.”
Asked if he can imagine a return to normal trade with Russia, Trump says:
“I do. Russia has a very valuable piece of land if Vladimir Putin would go toward business instead of toward war.”
Share‘I will know exactly whether or not deal can be made,’ Trump says
Back to Trump, he just got asked about Zelenskyy’s attendance in the summit on Friday, and said “I would say he could go, but he’s gone to a lot of meetings.”
He then added:
“Well, we’re going to have a meeting with Vladimir Putin, and at the end of that meeting, probably in the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be [made].”
Asked why he was so confident about it, he replied:
Because that’s what I do. I make deals.
Separately, the Élysée Palace has confirmed plans for the call with Trump, with another call with the coalition of the willing.
ShareTrump hopes for constructive ‘feel out’ meeting with Putin, but says ‘not up to me to make deal’
Speaking in the White House in the last few minutes, US president Donald Trump has claimed his meeting with Putin will “a feel out meeting,” but he thought that the Russian president “wants to get it over with.”
He says:
“I’m going in to speak to Vladimir Putin, and I’m going to be telling him, you have got to end this war, you got to end it.”
He says he hopes for “a constructive” conversation with the Russian president, and says he will call the European leaders to debrief them on the chat shortly after leaving the room.
He then says:
“Then after that meeting, immediately, maybe as I’m flying out, maybe as I’m leaving the room, I I’ll be calling the European leaders who I get along with very well. And you know, I have a great relationship, I think, with all of them, and I get along with Zelensky, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done, very, very severely disagree. This is a war that should have never happened … but I’ll be speaking to Zelensky. The next meeting will be with Zelensky and Putin, or Zelensky, and Putin to me I’ll be there if they need me.”
He expressed some frustration with Zelenskyy again, saying:
“I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelensky was saying, Well, I have to get constitutional approval. I mean, he’s got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap?
Because there’ll be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody to the good for the good of Ukraine, good stuff, not bad stuff, also some bad stuff for both. So it’s good and there’s bad, but it’s very complex, because you have lines that are very uneven. And there’ll be some swapping, there’ll be some changes in land.”
He makes it clear he can negotiate the deal, but it will be up to Ukraine to accept or reject it.
“I’m going to meet with him [Putin]. We’re going to see what the parameters are, and then I’m going to call up President Zelensky and the European leaders … and I’m going to tell them what kind of a deal. I’m not going to make a deal. It’s not up to me to make a deal. I think a deal should be made for both.”
Ultimately, he says “I’d like to see a cease fire.”
I’d like to see the best deal that could be made for both parties. You know, it takes two to tango, right?
When it comes to timing of the expected Europe-Trump call, we’re expecting the internal European call at midday GMT (so 1pm BST, 2pm CEST), followed an hour later by a separate call with Trump and Vance.
The so-called coalition of the willing is then expected to have another call later in the afternoon to consult on the next steps.
Updated at 10.46 EDT
European leaders set to join call with Zelenskyy, Trump on Wednesday
Looks like a phone call between European leaders, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and Trump could already be in the calendar, as the parties are keen to coordinate before Trump’s meeting with Putin on Friday.
Germany said in the last few minutes that chancellor Friedrich Merz will host “virtual talks” between EU leaders – the leaders of the six nations that signed the joint statement over the weekend, so Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the UK (9:57) – who will be joined by the EU’s presidents von der Leyen and Costa and Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte to speak with Zelenskyy, before joining a separate call with Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance.
A statement by Merz’s office said the talks will focus on “further options for exerting pressure on Russia” and “the preparation of possible peace negotiations,” including “related issues of territorial claims and security.”
The news of the call was first reported by the German press, including Welt and Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Politico.
Updated at 10.51 EDT
The EU ministerial meeting was scheduled to start around now, and it may not be before very late afternoon, early evening before we hear from the EU on the outcomes of the talks behind the closed doors.