The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated on Wednesday that he plans to hold discussions regarding the war in Ukraine in the coming days, after his August summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin yielded no progress.
Trump expressed frustration over the inability to stop Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, noting that he initially expected the conflict to end quickly after taking office in January.
He confirmed that the talks will take place in the coming days.
A White House official stated that Trump is expected to speak by phone on Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Earlier on Wednesday, the French Presidency announced that several European leaders, including Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron, would also call Trump on Thursday afternoon.
This call is expected to follow a mostly virtual meeting on Thursday organized by France, with around 30 countries participating, to discuss their latest efforts to provide security guarantees to Ukraine once a peace agreement with Russia is reached.
European leaders are also expected to condemn Moscow for its lack of willingness to engage in peace negotiations.
Putin has shown little interest in ending the war, despite both he and Trump expressing optimism about potential progress during their meeting in Alaska on August 15.
“I have no message for President Putin,” Trump told reporters at the White House during a meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki. “He knows my position, and he will make a decision one way or another. Whatever decision he makes, we will either be satisfied with it or dissatisfied, and if we are dissatisfied, you will see what happens.”
Trump did not clarify what he meant by this but has previously discussed the possibility of imposing new sanctions on Russia.
He also stated that the war will be resolved “one way or another,” acknowledging that he had not anticipated how difficult it would be to bring it to an end.
“I thought this would be much easier,” he said. “I thought it would be somewhere in the middle of the list, perhaps one of the easier ones. As for the war, you never know.”
