For the first time, the US President Donald Trump has directly stated that Putin is not ready to end the war against Ukraine. He said this in a conversation with European leaders who had not heard such rhetoric from their American counterpart before.
This is reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing three sources familiar with the conversation.
These words were something European leaders had long understood, but they were hearing them for the first time from Trump, whose public stance contradicted what was being said. The American president has repeated for months that he believes Putin is genuinely seeking peace.
Trump likely acknowledged that Putin is not ready for peace at this time, but that did not motivate him to do what Europe and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expect of him — to increase pressure on Russia.
During a call with European leaders on Sunday, May 18 (the day before his two-hour conversation with Putin), Trump hinted that he might impose sanctions if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire. On Monday, May 19, his position changed — he no longer intended to impose sanctions. Instead, he proposed starting negotiations between Ukraine and Russia at a lower level in the Vatican as soon as possible.
Trump also spoke with Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday, in what The Wall Street Journal called the culmination of a 10-day EU diplomatic campaign aimed at persuading Trump to pressure Putin.
Despite the lack of new sanctions against Russia, talks with Trump were not in vain. European leaders were assured that Putin is not ready to stop the war, and that Ukraineʼs support depends on Europe. At the same time, officials do not believe that the Trump administration will stop supplying weapons to Ukraine if the EU or Ukraine itself is willing to pay for it.
As for the new talks between Ukraine and Russia in the Vatican, Trump initially said in a conversation with European leaders — including Macron, Merz, Meloni, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer — about sending Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Representative Keith Kellogg there. But on Monday, after talking with Putin, Trump began to evade and did not confirm US participation in the talks.
The Europeans insisted that the talks should result in an unconditional ceasefire. However, Trump did not like the word “unconditional” — he said he had never used it, although he himself wrote about an “unconditional 30-day ceasefire” on his Truth Social network on May 8. In the end, the Europeans agreed to remove the word from the demands.
- On May 19, Trump held a series of talks with the leaders of Ukraine, the EU, and Russia. Before his call with Putin, he called Zelensky to ask what topics to raise. According to media reports, the Ukrainian president asked to discuss a 30-day ceasefire and an upcoming meeting between Zelensky and Putin, which Trump could join.
- Trumpʼs conversation with Putin lasted more than 2 hours. Following the conversation, Putin stated that he was ready to work on a memorandum with Ukraine, which includes a ceasefire, and Trump said that the terms of the memorandum should be discussed only between Ukraine and Russia.
- Zelensky, following the talks, said that Ukraine would not withdraw troops from territories partially occupied by the Russians. Earlier, media reported that Russia had made such a demand on May 16 at talks in Istanbul in exchange for a ceasefire.
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