President Donald Trump “shocked” European leaders on a conference call while discussing the outcome of his conversation with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, according to a report.
Trump and Putin spoke for around two hours on Monday in what was seen in Europe as an opportunity for the U.S. to pressure Putin to agree to a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine or face new sanctions.
However, in a follow-up conference call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, and Finland, Trump stated that Putin had only agreed to discuss a ceasefire and that the U.S. would not be involved in the negotiations, unnamed sources told Axios.
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European leaders on the call were also “surprised” in how the U.S. president appeared willing to abandon the idea of trying to broker a deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, the sources added.
Trump did not discuss his threat of sanctions with Putin if Russia refused the proposed 30-day ceasefire already agreed upon by Ukraine, according to The Guardian.
In a Monday post on Truth Social, Trump said the talks with Putin “went very well” and that Russia and Ukraine would “immediately” begin negotiations for a ceasefire.
However, world leaders on the conference call—including Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen—were confused as to why Trump considered the talks a success, as Putin had seemingly not changed his stance at all, the sources told Axios.
There were also reportedly a few seconds of “puzzled silence” when Trump informed them that Putin had agreed to immediately negotiate a ceasefire.
Zelensky told Trump that Moscow had already agreed to this, with talks taking place in Istanbul the previous week. The U.S. president allegedly didn’t directly reply to Zelensky’s remarks, according to Axios.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.
During the 2024 election campaign, Trump frequently suggested he would end the war between Russia and Ukraine within “one day” of re-entering the White House.
With his second term entering its fifth month, Trump is now expressing a willingness to “back away” from providing further military aid to Ukraine and from being involved in talks between Moscow and Kyiv to end the now three-year conflict.
“This was not my war. This is not a war that would have happened if I were president,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office following his call with Putin. “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. It should have remained a European situation,” Trump added. “But because the past administration felt very strongly that we should be involved, we got involved much more than Europe did in terms of the money and all of the things that we gave.”
In a statement, Zelensky confirmed he had spoken with Trump before and after the call with Putin, while urging Moscow to agree to a ceasefire.
“Russia must end the war it started, and it can begin doing so any day. Ukraine has always been ready for peace,” Zelensky said.
Putin repeated his stance that “root causes” of the conflict must be addressed before any ceasefire is agreed, reported Russian state news agency TASS. These causes have included the Kremlin’s calls to restrict Ukraine’s sovereignty and prevent Kyiv from having closer ties in Europe.
