Trump Privately Tells European Leaders What Pretty Much Everyone Already Suspects About Putin
It took President Donald Trump four months to accept something that many of Ukraine’s allies had already figured out a long time ago—Vladimir Putin has no plans to end the war in Ukraine because he believes he’s winning. Trump reportedly shared this new understanding during a phone call with several top European leaders, but the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, was not included in the conversation.
According to The Wall Street Journal, which spoke with people who know what happened during the call, Trump privately admitted for the first time that Putin isn’t interested in stopping the war. This is a big change, because until now, Trump has been saying in public that he believes Putin wants peace and that a resolution could happen quickly if both sides just sat down and talked.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump’s team has been trying to push both Ukraine and Russia into peace talks. They hoped to bring a quick end to the fighting, but things seem to be going in the opposite direction. After spending two hours on the phone with Putin, Trump started to change his tone. He no longer sounded so confident about forcing a peace deal and seemed less committed to the idea of a ceasefire.
When Trump later spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, he sounded unsure and hesitant. He even said he didn’t like the idea of an “unconditional” ceasefire—meaning a ceasefire without any rules or conditions from either side. That made some leaders feel like Trump was no longer fully supporting a clear push for peace.
The phone meeting had been arranged at the last minute. At the time, Keir Starmer was in a separate meeting with business leaders, so he couldn’t join the call. However, the United States later updated the UK government on what was discussed during the call.
Despite what was said in private, Trump went on social media and called his talk with Putin “excellent.” He claimed everything went well and even said, “If it wasn’t, I would say so now.” But behind the scenes, Trump didn’t get Putin to agree to anything solid. He wasn’t able to secure a 30-day ceasefire, and he didn’t threaten Russia with any new penalties or sanctions. Many people expected him to put more pressure on Moscow, but that didn’t happen.
Instead of showing stronger leadership in ending the war, Trump suggested that maybe the United States shouldn’t be involved in the conflict at all. Speaking to reporters after the call, he said, “This isn’t my war. We got ourselves entangled in something we shouldn’t have been involved in.” His words made it seem like he might be preparing to pull back from the peace process entirely.
There are new plans for peace talks to begin again in June, and they are expected to take place in the Vatican. But Trump’s latest comments have left many of Ukraine’s supporters worried about how seriously the US is still taking the war and whether America will continue playing a major role in finding a solution.
