Trump tells Russia and Ukraine to stop the war ‘at the battle line’
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press after disembarking from Air Force One upon arrival at Palm Beach International Airport on Friday.
U.S. President Donald
U.S. President Donald Trump urged Russia and Ukraine to “make a DEAL” after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday but refused to offer the Tomahawk missiles or other help that Kyiv says are necessary to force Moscow to the negotiating table.
Zelenskyy had hoped that the meeting would be a chance to ratchet up pressure on President Vladimir Putin with a pledge from the U.S. to provide advanced missiles as well as bilateral security guarantees.
Instead, Trump, who had spoken with Putin on Thursday and agreed to another summit, equivocated on both military aid and the threat of new sanctions on Russia, while saying both sides should “stop right now at the battle line.”
“I told him, as I likewise strongly suggested to President Putin, that it is time to stop the killing, and make a DEAL!” Trump wrote in a social media post after meeting Zelenskyy. “Enough blood has been shed, with property lines being defined by War and Guts. They should stop where they are.”
The meeting will be a disappointment for the Ukrainian leader, who had sought to capitalize on Trump’s mounting frustration in recent weeks with Putin’s refusal to commit to end the fighting. He’d also hoped to create momentum coming out of Trump’s mediation of a ceasefire in Gaza to get the U.S. to put more pressure on Putin.
Instead, the U.S. president again brushed aside Zelenskyy and other critics who have argued that Putin has no interest in coming to the table. Trump also appeared to back away from a Senate-led push to increase financial pressure with massive tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil. On Thursday, Trump said the time wasn’t right for such a move.
Those developments put Zelenskyy and his European allies back in a familiar cycle where they seek to press Trump into action, Putin undercuts them, and they try again, while the fighting in Ukraine grinds on. Earlier this year, Trump cut back almost all U.S. military aid to Ukraine and instead came up with a plan for Europe to buy U.S. weaponry to send to Kyiv.
“Trump needs to pressure Putin, who is clearly the obstacle,” said William Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who is now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. “Zelenskyy wants to stop the fighting.”
Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged Trump to increase pressure on Putin by “imposing tougher sanctions on Russia and providing Ukraine with additional military assistance and long-range missiles to defend itself.”
Now Trump is set to meet Putin in the coming weeks in Hungary, less than three months after they shook hands at a U.S. military base in Alaska to inconclusive results. Ukraine is calling for more assistance as Russia has stepped up its attacks in recent months and knocked out more than half the country’s gas output. That’s put Ukraine in a precarious position as winter approaches.
Trump suggested the possibility of meeting Putin and Zelenskyy separately but appeared to back away from the earlier idea that the two would meet face to face.
“These two leaders do not like each other, and we want to make it comfortable for everybody,” he said.
Earlier Friday, Trump acknowledged that Putin may be stalling for time by agreeing to another summit, but shrugged off concerns the Russian leader may be manipulating him, telling reporters he still thinks the Kremlin wants to end the conflict. Sitting across from Trump during a White House meeting, Zelenskyy said he believes Putin doesn’t want peace, and asked for a U.S. security guarantee — one Trump has so far refused to give.
“I’ve been played all my life by the best of them and I came out really well,” Trump said. “I think that I’m pretty good at this stuff. I think he wants to make a deal.”
That sentiment exposed a major fault line between Trump and Zelenskyy. Of his conversation with Putin about a possible peace deal, Trump said the Russian leader “wants to get it done.” Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said “we want peace — Putin doesn’t want” and made clear he wants advanced weapons and U.S. support to push Russia to the negotiating table.
Speaking to reporters later, Zelenskyy said there would need to be more talks on U.S. support.
“Nobody canceled this topic, we have to work on it more,” Zelenskyy told reporters after the meeting when asked about Kyiv’s request for Tomahawk missiles. The Ukrainian leader cast his talks with Trump as long and productive, but said he anticipated tough negotiations over territory — and the sequencing of a ceasefire — in eventual talks with Putin.
