Trump reiterated his statement from last week, during a video call with leaders from the European Commission, Ukraine, France, Finland, Italy and Germany, saying that Putin has agreed to hold peace talks, at least on a ceasefire.
However, according to a report by Axios, European leaders were left bewildered and confused after Trump said that though the US would be ready to mediate between the sparring countries, he is not sure if Putin plans on actually starting peace talks.
Trump didn’t even mention any U.S. threat of sanctions against Russia if Putin refused a ceasefire, which Ukraine had already agreed to, as per The Guardian report. On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said the call with Putin went “very well” and that Russia and Ukraine would “immediately” start talking about a ceasefire.
But leaders from Italy, Germany, Finland and European Commission didn’t understand why Trump thought the call went well, but Putin didn’t seem to change his mind, says reports.
When Trump said Putin had agreed to start talks right away, there were a few seconds of awkward silence on the call. Ukrainian President Zelensky told Trump that Russia had already agreed to those talks during a meeting held the week before. Trump didn’t answer that point directly.The White House did not give any comment to The Daily Beast when asked about this, as mentioned by The Daily Beast. During his election campaign, Trump kept saying that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war “in one day” if he became president again. Now that Trump is in his second term, he’s saying he wants to “back away” from giving more military help to Ukraine and won’t get too involved in peace talks. Trump told reporters, “This was not my war. This is not a war that would have happened if I were president,” and added that if peace doesn’t happen, “I just back away.” He said it was a European problem and America only got deeply involved because the last U.S. administration pushed for it.
Zelensky confirmed he had calls with Trump before and after Trump’s chat with Putin, and said Ukraine still wants peace. Zelensky said that Russia needs to stop the war it started and added that Ukraine has always been up for peace talk.
Meanwhile, Putin said that before any real ceasefire can happen, the “root causes” of the war need to be solved. These root causes include Russia demanding that Ukraine give up some independence and not get closer to Europe, as per Russian news agency TASS.
FAQs
Q1. Why were European leaders unhappy after Trump talked to Putin?
Because Trump said the U.S. wouldn’t help with peace talks and Putin didn’t agree to a real ceasefire.
Q2. Did Trump end the Ukraine war?
No, after five months in office, he is now stepping back from the issue.