Donald Trump heaped praise on Vladimir Putin as he confirmed Volodymyr Zelensky is not invited to their meeting in Alaska this Friday.
The US President said he will try to set up a summit between the Ukrainian leader and the Russian dictator afterwards – but only if he believes a deal is possible.
In a deeply concerning press conference, Mr Trump said he ‘got along very well’ with Putin saying the strongman saw him as ‘the apple of his eye’ before the invasion.
He described Moscow‘s decision to reach out to him and offer to meet in Alaska as ‘very respectful’ before once more appearing to blame Mr Zelensky for the war.
Mr Trump said he was ‘bothered’ that the Ukrainian had said he would need constitutional approval for any ‘land swaps’ – claiming he didn’t need it ‘to go into war and kill everybody’.
In a free-wheeling and at times contradictory press conference the US President said he would ‘try and get some territory back’ for Ukraine but warned he may also walk away and say, ‘this is not going to be settled’.
It marks a worrying return to his rhetoric from his first days in office where he parroted Kremlin talking points and piled pressure on Kyiv whilst being seemingly charmed by Moscow.
Immediately after the Washington press conference, Mr Zelensky posted a summary of his meeting with Canadian PM Mark Carney where he warned ‘the Russians simply want to buy time, not end the war’.
Donald Trump (right) heaped praise on Vladimir Putin (left) as he confirmed Volodymyr Zelensky is not invited to their meeting in Alaska this Friday. Pictured: Trump and the Russian President at a meeting in 2017
In a deeply concerning press conference, Mr Trump said he ‘got along very well’ with Putin saying the strongman saw him as ‘the apple of his eye’ before the invasion. Above, both men during a joint press conference in 2018
He described Moscow’s decision to reach out to him and offer to meet in Alaska as ‘very respectful’ before once more appearing to blame Mr Zelensky (pictured) for the war
A No10 spokesman said on Monday that Sir Keir Starmer has been ‘very clear that the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine’.
They added: ‘You can never trust President Putin as far as you can throw him’, but that the British government ‘absolutely supports President Trump’s work to stop the killing in Ukraine’.
It came as Kyiv reportedly softened its negotiating stance ahead of Friday’s meeting.
A Western official told the Telegraph that Mr Zelensky may agree to cede territory already held by Russia as part of a European-backed plan for peace.
However they would not ‘swap’ any territory not taken by Moscow. In effect, they could freeze the front line in its current position giving Russia control over most of the Donbas, as well as Crimea and parts of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
In recent months, Mr Trump appeared to have grown weary of Putin who has strung him along for months as his forces continue their brutal advance in eastern Ukraine and killed civilians in drone strikes.
Yesterday he restated his record in arming Ukraine in his first term and said he was ‘the toughest’ on Putin and would never ‘roll over’ even though they ‘got along’.
He said the dictator ‘isn’t going to mess with me’ and vowed that when they meet he will tell him: ‘You’ve got to end this war.’
Mr Trump said he was ‘bothered’ that the Ukrainian President had said he would need constitutional approval for any ‘land swaps’ – claiming he didn’t need it ‘to go into war and kill everybody’
But Mr Trump also heaped praise on Putin, saying: ‘I thought it was very respectful that the President of Russia is coming to our country, as opposed to us going to his country or even a third party place’.
In contrast, he said he ‘gets along’ with Mr Zelenksy but added: ‘I disagree with what he’s done – very, very severely disagree. This is a war that shouldn’t have happened.’
He also seemed outraged that Mr Zelensky said any alterations to Ukraine’s borders would require an amendment to the country’s constitution which contain strict provisions on the nation’s territorial integrity.
Mr Trump said: ‘I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelensky was saying, “Well, I have to get constitutional approval.”
‘He’s got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap.’
Mr Trump did not criticise Putin for illegally launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Outlining the roadmap after days of speculation, the US President ruled out Zelensky or European leaders attending. He said of the Ukrainian President: ‘I would say he could go, but he’s gone to a lot of meetings, he’s been there for three-and-a-half years and nothing happened’.
Describing the summit as a ‘feel-out meeting’ he said he will know ‘probably in the first two minutes’ of meeting Putin whether a deal can be made.
Mr Trump did not criticise Putin for illegally launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Pictured: The pair shake hands before a meeting in Helsinki in 2018
‘After that meeting, immediately, maybe as I’m flying out, maybe as I’m leaving the room, I’ll be calling the European leaders,’ he added.
Of Mr Zelensky, he said: ‘I think, out of respect, I’ll call him first, and then I’ll call them [European and NATO leaders] after.’
He added: ‘I may say, lots of luck – keep fighting. Or I may say, we can make a deal.’
But, if he believes a deal is possible, Mr Trump said: ‘I’m going to put the two of them in a room, I’ll be there or I won’t be there, and I think it’ll get solved’.
Asked how he would know if he can make a deal, Mr Trump responded: ‘Because that’s what I do – I make deals.’
In an apparent blunder, at one point Mr Trump said he was ‘going to Russia on Friday’ and later said: ‘We’re going to Russia. That’s going to be a big deal.’
There were other concerning moments. He falsely claimed a poll showed 88 per cent of Ukrainians want a deal and labelled the invaded country ‘gung ho for war’ three years ago.
The country has never wanted war, while the most recent polling showed 70 per cent want a negotiated settlement.
A serviceman is pictured here collecting the wreckage of a Russian missile that hit a residential neighborhood in Kharkiv
At another point he shared a warped historical lecture from Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban – known as Putin’s man in Europe – whom he dubbed ‘my friend’ and ‘a very smart man’.
He told how Orban had advised him Ukraine can never defeat Russia because ‘Russia is a massive country and they win their life through wars’.
On Monday night it emerged German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has organised an emergency call with Mr Trump, Mr Zelensky and other European leaders tomorrow ahead of the Alaska meeting.
The virtual summit will focus on pressure options to use against Russia, questions over Ukraine’s occupied territories and security guarantees for Kyiv, a German government spokesman told POLITICO.
