MOSCOW – Vladimir Putin last night told Donald Trump that he would attend peace talks with Vlodymyr Zelenskyy within two weeks – but failed to name a specific date fuelling fears he will pull out of efforts to end the war at the last minute.
The Kremlin branded a 40-minute phone call between Trump and Putin on Monday as ‘frank’ and only ‘fairly constructive’ – moments after the US President said on social media Monday that he and discussed plans for a summit in the next two weeks between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine.
‘‘Vlodymyr Zelenskyy is ‘ready’ to sit down for face-to-face talks with Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war, he said on Monday night.’’
It follows yesterday’s extraordinary Oval Office love-in with Donald Trump that saw the two presidents swap praise and promises, a stark contrast to their explosive meeting in the same setting earlier this year.
The meeting was also attended by European leaders, including Keir Starmer, Italy’s Georgia Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Though the tensions behind the scenes were seemingly revealed when Trump appeared to be reassuring French President Emmanuel Macron that Russian President Vladimir Putin was serious about making peace in Ukraine.
In a hot mic moment on Monday, President Donald Trump appeared to be reassuring French President Emmanuel Macron that Russian President Vladimir Putin was serious about making peace in Ukraine.
‘‘I think he wants to make a deal. I think he wants to make a deal for me,’’ Trump whispered to Macron in the White House East Room before their meeting started. ‘Do you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.’
Macron appeared sceptical that Putin was serious about ending the three and a half year conflict that Russia had started.
Meanwhile, the Finnish prime minister also urged caution about the prospects for peace in Ukraine – as he labelled his Russian counterpart as ‘untrustworthy’. Despite the meeting, Putin launched 270 drones and 10 missiles in an overnight attack.
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