'maybe They Will, Maybe They Won't': Trump Voices Doubt Over Zelenskyy-putin Talks

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is signaling caller doubts astir whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet anytime soon arsenic momentum toward a acme betwixt nan warring countries appears to beryllium fading.

“I don’t cognize that they’ll meet — possibly they will, possibly they won’t,” Trump said Monday astatine nan White House during a gathering successful nan Oval Office pinch South Korean leader Lee Jae-myung. “It’s going to beryllium up to them. It takes 2 to tango. I ever opportunity it. And they should meet, I think, earlier I person a gathering and astir apt adjacent nan deal, but I deliberation it’s appropriate.”

Trump praised Putin for walking to nan United States for talks, a move he said Putin was reluctant to make, but he acknowledged that nan efforts to agent bid look to person slowed.

That marks a displacement successful reside conscionable complete a week aft Trump hosted Putin successful Alaska for a whirlwind acme aimed astatine breaking done nan three-year stalemate successful nan Russia-Ukraine war. Trump had initially suggested that back-to-back meetings betwixt nan cardinal parties could hap wrong a matter of days aliases weeks.

But he conceded Monday that organizing nan meetings has proven much challenging than he anticipated and described nan conflict arsenic “personal” for some leaders and rooted successful heavy animosity.

Underscoring nan dynamic, 2 Russian cruise missiles past week deed a U.S. electronics mill successful Ukraine, a motion that Moscow remains committed to nan conflict moreover arsenic Washington calls for an extremity to nan bloodshed.

Even so, Trump struck an optimistic note, saying he believes "we’re gonna get that warfare straightened out," and he besides warned that location “could beryllium very large consequences” if Putin and Zelenskyy neglect to meet soon.

“We’ll spot what happens complete nan adjacent week aliases two,” he said, extending nan timelines and adding that he would beryllium prepared to “step successful very strongly” if advancement stalls.

On information guarantees, Trump said earlier successful nan time that nan United States would support European efforts to unafraid Ukraine but emphasized that Europe would undertake nan astir “significant” commitments. “They’re correct there,” he said. “But we’ll backmost it up, because I want to extremity seeing group being killed.”

Trump's acme pinch Putin connected Aug. 15 ended abruptly pinch a planned luncheon pulled from nan schedule and nary ceasefire deal, but Trump signaled progress, calling it “productive." Zelenskyy and European leaders rushed to nan White House for a high-level gathering aft nan acme pinch Putin. At nan time, nan White House touted nan urgency of nan moment, noting that “every azygous 1 of them sewage connected a level 48 hours later” to subordinate nan talks.

During that meeting, Trump stepped retired to telephone Putin and later said connected Truth Social that he had begun “the arrangements for a meeting” betwixt Zelenskyy and Putin, aft which they would person a trilateral gathering involving Trump himself. Kremlin officials downplayed nan idea, pinch Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov casting uncertainty complete nan early of nan bid push successful an question and reply Friday pinch NBC News' "Meet nan Press." There was no specified gathering connected nan calendar, Lavrov said, adding that cardinal issues, including territorial disputes and security guarantees for Ukraine, stay unresolved.

By nan extremity of nan week, Trump’s vexation appeared to beryllium mounting. “I’m not happy astir thing astir that war. Nothing. Not happy astatine all,” he said Friday, informing that “the adjacent 2 weeks” could beryllium pivotal.

Asked what would hap astatine nan extremity of those 2 weeks, Trump said he would measurement “massive sanctions aliases monolithic tariffs aliases both. Or do we do thing and opportunity it’s your fight.”