Washington DC: US President Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic moment as he said that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, wanted to reach a resolution with him to end the Ukraine war. Moments before a high-level meeting with European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump whispered to French President Emmanuel Macron that Putin wanted to make a deal for him.
“I think he (Putin) wants to make a deal. I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand that? As crazy as it sounds,” Trump whispered.
On Monday, the US president held a meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders in the Oval Office. Apart from Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, EU President Ursula von der Leyen and Italy PM Giorgia Meloni also attended the meeting. After the high-level meeting, Trump spoke to Putin over the call. According to US officials, the Russian President has agreed in principle to meet Zelenskyy within the next fortnight, after Trump’s phone call.
I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy," Trump said in a social media post.
“After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years,” he added.
Putin and Trump "spoke in favour" of continuing direct talks between Russia and Ukraine,” reported Russia's state news agency Tass, citing Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov.
After the meeting with the US President, Zelenskyy told the media that if Russia does not show a will to meet, then Ukraine will ask the United States to act accordingly.
Earlier, Trump said during talks with the Ukrainian President and the European leaders from Britain, France, and other countries, that a potential ceasefire and decision on Ukrainian territory seized by Russia should be taken during a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders of the warring countries.
