Trump's deference to Putin stunned European leaders on call
U.K. PM Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and French President Emmanuel Macron at a summit in Albania on Sunday. Photo: Leon Neal/AFP via Getty
Ukrainian President Zelensky and five other European leaders joined a conference call with President Trump immediately after his call with Vladimir Putin on Monday hoping to hear that Putin had agreed to a ceasefire — or the U.S. would impose penalties on him for refusing to do so.
- Instead, Trump said Putin had agreed to negotiate, stressed the U.S. wouldn't be involved in those negotiations, and pushed back against the idea of imposing sanctions on Putin at the current time, two sources who were on the call and a third source briefed on the call told Axios.
Why it matters: Trump gave the impression he was getting closer to withdrawing from the issue altogether. Some leaders on the call seemed "surprised" or "shocked," the sources said.
- "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. Again, this was a European situation, and should have remained a European situation," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office several hours after his calls.
How it happened: Trump and Zelensky had a brief call Monday morning, and Trump asked his Ukrainian counterpart what he should tell Putin, the sources said.
- Zelensky was happy Trump called him to consult. He requested that Trump demand an immediate ceasefire, threaten new sanctions against Russia, and offer no concessions to Putin without consulting Ukraine, the sources say.
Behind the scenes: When the call with Putin ended, Trump called Zelensky again. This time the leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Finland and the European Commission were also on the line.
- "The second call was longer and of a different character than the first one," Zelensky said later.
- While a European source on the call told Axios it was "constructive," another source said Zelensky felt it was "bad."
Trump told the leaders that Putin agreed to start direct negotiations on a ceasefire immediately. A source on the call said there were a few seconds of puzzled silence.
- Zelensky then pointed out that Putin had previously agreed to negotiate, and the first round of ceasefire talks took place on Friday in Istanbul. Trump didn't directly respond, the sources said.
- The sources said Zelensky and several other leaders on the call told Trump it had been his idea to start the peace talks with an immediate 30-day ceasefire.
- A White House official told Axios Trump "never agreed" that a ceasefire should be a prerequisite for negotiations and never said Zelensky can decide what the conditions for negotiations will be.
Friction point: Other European leaders on the call asked about the possibility of U.S. sanctions against Russia, but Trump said he didn't think was a good idea and stressed that he thought Putin wanted a deal.
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni jumped in to ask why there couldn't be a ceasefire for at least two weeks heading into the talks, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz asked what concessions Russia was willing to make, the sources said.
- Trump told the group Putin would present a "peace memo" with his terms for a ceasefire and for ending the war. A source on the call said Trump told Zelensky and the European leaders he asked Putin to present "something people can agree to" and not a proposal that will be rejected immediately.
- Zelensky said previous rounds of negotiations with Putin, including last week, didn't produce anything and stressed that if Trump doesn't push, Putin won't move, the sources said.
- The White House official said that for months Russia had refused to present a document with its vision of how to end the war and the fact Putin agreed to do it was a significant step forward.
Between the lines: Leaders on the call seemed surprised that Trump seemed relatively content with what he heard from Putin, and presented it as a new development, even though the Russian leader did not seem to have changed his position at all, the sources said.
What to watch: Trump told the group that Russia and Ukraine should conduct bilateral direct negotiations without any third party mediators because the parties best understand all the details of the conflict.
- Meloni and Merz said the U.S. and European countries need to be involved in the negotiations. "Someone needs to be a judge," Meloni said. Merz proposed holding a meeting with all the parties present.
- Trump later suggested the Vatican as a venue for the talks.
Where it stands: On the call, Finland President Alexander Stubb asked Trump what the next steps were. "I don't know. Someone has to come out and say whether the negotiations are going well or badly, and then we'll decide what to do," Trump said.
This story was updated with comments from a White House official.