Trump says Putin, Zelenskyy must show flexibility, pushes summit
Published in News & Features
Donald Trump urged Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy to show some “flexibility” as the U.S. president accelerates his efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
“I hope President Putin is going to be good, and if he’s not, it’s going to be a rough situation,” Trump said Tuesday in an interview on Fox News. “I hope that Zelenskyy, President Zelenskyy, will do what he has to do. He has to show some flexibility.”
Trump’s comments follow a whirlwind stretch as the U.S. president pushes to bring Russia’s war against Ukraine — now in its fourth year — to an end. Trump held a summit in Alaska with Putin last week and talks at the White House with Zelenskyy and European allies on Monday.
Trump spoke with Putin again on Monday and urged him to begin making plans for a bilateral summit with Zelenskyy — a sitdown that would mark the first time those leaders meet face-to-face since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. Trump said that if that meeting goes well, he’ll look to follow up with a trilateral summit alongside Putin and Zelenskyy.
“I think they’re doing okay. I wouldn’t say they are ever going to be best friends, but they’re doing okay, and we’re just going to see,” Trump said. “So we’re setting up a meeting. I sort of set it up with Putin and Zelenskyy, and, you know, they’re the ones that have to call the shots.”
The details of the plan, however, appear to still be in flux — with Trump acknowledging a time and location for a gathering had not yet been set, and Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov saying only that Trump and Putin had discussed the idea of direct talks with Zelenskyy.
A meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy could take place within two weeks, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters Monday. French President Emmanuel Macron signaled the trilateral summit could happen within three weeks.
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