Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Trump said he planned to talk to Putin in the coming days, but the Russian leader was aware of his administration’s stance on the war.
“I have no message to President Putin. He knows where I stand, and he’ll make a decision one way or the other,” Trump stated, adding, “Whatever his decision is, we’ll either be happy about it or unhappy. And if we’re unhappy about it, you’ll see things happen.”
Trump’s comments came after Putin said earlier that he would be willing to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Moscow.
“Donald asked me for such a meeting. I said: ‘Yes, it’s possible, let Zelenskyy come to Moscow,’” Putin stated at the end of his visit to China, where he attended Beijing’s commemorations of the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II.
“I have never ruled out the possibility of such a meeting,” Putin continued, adding, “But is there any point? Let’s see.”
Putin added that Moscow would achieve its aims in Ukraine militarily if it could not reach an agreement.
“Let’s see how the situation develops,” Putin said.
Trump has suggested a one-on-one meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy as part of his efforts to bring an end to the three-and-a-half-year-long conflict.
Despite Trump’s pledge to bring a swift end to the conflict, Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on the terms of any potential peace agreement.
Russia has announced that any deal with Ukraine would need to include land in four regions it has annexed since 2022, while Kyiv has ruled out ceding any territory.