The Ukrainian leader is “not the easiest person to deal with,” the US president has said
President Donald Trump has expressed hope that “something is going to happen” following his conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, although he said it remains unclear whether Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is fully committed to ending the conflict with Moscow.
Trump, who has repeatedly said he found it easier to deal with Moscow than Kiev while seeking to broker peace between the two countries, reiterated similar sentiment on Monday when asked if he believes Ukraine is “doing enough” to end the hostilities.
“I’d rather tell you in about two weeks from now, because I can’t say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’… Look, Zelensky is a strong guy, and he’s not the easiest person to deal with. But I think that he wants to stop… I hope the answer is that he wants to get it solved,” Trump told reporters at the White House, following separate conversations with Putin and Zelensky earlier in the day.
Trump stated last week that “nothing is going to happen until Putin and I get together,” as he urged Kiev to “immediately” accept Moscow’s proposal for direct negotiations. Asked whether he still felt that way following the Istanbul talks and his latest calls, Trump said he remains cautiously optimistic.
“I tell you, big egos involved, but I think something’s going to happen. And if it doesn’t, I just back away and they’re going to have to keep going,” he said, while declining to explain what might cause him to abandon efforts to mediate the conflict.
“I would say I do have a certain line, but I don’t want to say what that line is because I think it makes the negotiation even more difficult than it is,” he added.
Trump said that his phone call with Putin “went very well” and that “progress is being made,” but offered few details of his follow-up call with Zelensky. The US president has long suggested that Kiev is harder to work with, recalling a heated Oval Office meeting in February where the Ukrainian delegation was told to leave prematurely and only return when Zelensky was “ready for peace.”
Zelensky said he spoke with Trump twice on Monday – before and after the US president’s call with Putin – and warned him against any decisions on Ukraine being made without Kiev’s participation. While insisting that Ukraine wants to “stop the war,” Zelensky said Kiev would not agree to any Russian “ultimatums” and again demanded nothing short of a “full and unconditional ceasefire.”
Putin, for his part, described the two-hour call with Trump as “frank” and “quite useful,” announcing that Moscow is ready to work with Kiev on a memorandum envisioning a future peace agreement. “In general, Russia’s position is clear. The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis,” Putin said.
