Trump's tense meeting with Zelensky features clash over Putin's plans

Ukrainian President Zelensky delivered a pointed rebuke to Donald Trump's assessment of the war in Ukraine on Friday, insisting Vladimir 'Putin doesn't want peace' even as the American president continued to express confidence a resolution was in sight.

'We want peace, Putin doesn't want peace. That's why we need pressure on him,' Zelensky said, underscoring Kyiv's call for stronger US support.

At the same meeting, Trump said he believed Putin wants to finish the war. 

'I think President Putin wants to end the war, or he wouldn't be talking this way,' Trump said. 

Later in questions with reporters, Trump said he was concerned about being played by Putin, revealing his conflicting feelings around the quagmire that has lasted three years and eight months.

'I have been played all my life by the best of them,' Trump acknowledged, a signal of his lingering reticence with Putin following a long conversation with the Russian leader on Thursday.

Zelensky started off his part of his remarks Friday celebrating Trump's success in the Middle East while noting the challenges of codifying a lasting truce.

'Even now you see in the Middle East, it's very difficult to hold ceasefire. Everywhere in every war, it's very difficult,' Zelensky noted.

A new Daily Mail/JL Partners poll shows that voters at home are giving Trump the credit for Middle East peace. When asked which president had done the most for the Middle East, Trump received more votes than his four White House predecessors combined.

Reporters questioned what concessions Ukraine's president might be willing to make, noting that Trump has 'stuck out his neck' in these wars. Zelensky replied that before any decisions could be made, 'they will have to sit down and talk first.'

Trump dodged a direct question about who is negotiating better — Putin or Zelensky — insisting both leaders are 'doing a great job' but need to 'take some of their hatred for each other' out of the equation. He said he had spoken with Putin and believes the Russian president wants to 'get it done.'

Zelensky called for a ceasefire and indicated openness to negotiations in any format, but stressed the need for 'strong security guarantees.' While NATO membership remains his goal, he suggested a bilateral US-Ukraine defense pact could be a viable alternative.

Trump acknowledged the strain of continuing large-scale military aid and expressed caution about providing Tomahawk missiles. 'We need Tomahawks. One reason we want this war over is because it's not easy for us to keep sending massive weapons,' he said, citing the need to preserve US military readiness.

In response, Zelensky proposed a mutual production deal: US missiles for Ukrainian drones — a capability-sharing agreement to strengthen both countries' defense industries.

Trump hinted at a potential peace summit hosted by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, bringing Zelensky and Putin together. He acknowledged the personal animosity between the wartime leaders but expressed confidence that diplomacy could prevail.

The meeting came just one day after Trump agreed to a second sit-down with Putin in Hungary, with the White House playing up the Russian president's flattery.

Trump said that after the call, he was more convinced that Putin was ready to make peace. 

'It just seems to me that, you know, it's how I feel,' the president explained. 'That's all I've done in my whole life, I've made deals, I know about deals, I do it well.'

'I don't think any president has ever ended a war, frankly,' Trump also offered. 

In a post on X Thursday night, Zelensky made clear he was dubious that Putin was truly ready to come to the negotiating table. 

'Nothing has changed for Russia- it is still terrorizing life in Ukraine,' Zelensky said. 

'Russia will be forced to stop the war once it is no longer able to continue it,' the Ukrainian leader continued. 'And Russia's true readiness for peace lies not in words - Putin has never been short of those - but in actually ceasing the strikes and killings, and that's precisely where he has a problem.'

Trump has been in contact with Putin throughout his second term - and met him face-to-face in August in Alaska - but the Russian leader hasn't slowed down his assault on Ukrainian territory. 

The president said he still viewed the Alaska meeting positively, though the US walked away with no concrete peace deal and Putin was able to herald the visit as his return to the world stage, after being turned into a pariah since the February 2022 invasion.

'Well, I think Alaska actually set a stage and that wasn't very long ago, but it set a stage,' Trump said Thursday. 

Prior to this week's call with Putin, Trump appeared to have grown frustrated with the Russian leader, often lamenting that he thought the Ukraine war would be the easiest to end - thanks to his good relationship with Putin - and instead it's been the hardest.

Trump also credited first lady Melania Trump with opening his eyes to Russia's consistent bombing and killing of civilians in the aftermath of friendly phone calls with Putin.

Zelensky is expected to ask Trump for long-range Tomahawk missiles for Kyiv, capabilities that might make Russia more eager for peace. 

Washington has been hesitant to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles, such as Tomahawks, out of concern that such a step could escalate the war and deepen tensions between the United States and Russia. 

But Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Wednesday in Brussels that if Russia won't budge from its objections and refuses to negotiate a peace deal, Washington 'will take the steps necessary to impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression.'

The president revealed that he had teased giving Zelensky the Tomahawks to Putin on their call Thursday. 

'I did actually say, 'Would you mind if I gave a couple of thousand tomahawks to your opposition?' I did say that to him. I said it just that way. He didn't like the idea,' Trump said. 'You have to be a little lighthearted sometimes.'

Relations between Trump and Zelensky have warmed since their late February viral spat in the Oval Office in which the president told his Ukrainian counterpart: 'You don't have the cards.'

But it appeared Trump might wait for his second in-person meeting with Putin before green-lighting the Tomahawks, which he called 'vicious,' 'offensive' and 'incredibly destructive.' 

The president said his second Putin summit would be hosted by his political ally, Hungarian President Victor Orban, and would happen soon. 

Putin has yet to commit to sitting down with Zelensky face-to-face. 

'I mean, we have a problem. They don't get along too well, those two, and it's sometimes tough to have meetings,' Trump said. 'So we may do something where we're separate, but separate but equal,' the president floated. 

'This is a terrible relationship the two of them have,' Trump said.