United States President Donald Trump was caught on an open mic telling French President Emmanuel Macron that Russian leader Vladimir Putin – whom he met in Alaska days earlier – wants to strike a Ukraine peace deal “for him.”
As he hosted seven European leaders at the White House to coordinate on ‘Security Guarantees’ for Ukraine, Trump was caught telling Macron, “I think he [Russian President Vladimir Putin] wants to make a deal.”
“I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand that? As crazy as it sounds,” Trump said, suggesting that Vladimir Putin, who launched a military offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, is open to finally end the war in Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen and Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte attended the closed-door meeting with Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, August 18.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has also informed that Vladimir Putin has agreed to hold a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss terms of peace in Ukraine.
Trump said he’s begun arrangements for a face-to-face meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” he said.
Meanwhile, Trump has promised that the US would be involved in providing security guarantees for Ukraine. The US leader said that there would be some form of security guarantees for Ukraine, but did not reveal whether this would involve US troops.
The security guarantees for Kyiv will likely be worked out within 10 days, Zelensky has informed.
“Security guarantees will probably be ‘unpacked’ by our partners, and more and more details will emerge. All of this will somehow be formalised on paper within the next week to 10 days,” Zelensky said.