Trump interrupts negotiations with European leaders to call Putin

Report: Trump paused meeting with European leaders to call Putin

According to a report from the German newspaper Bild, President Donald Trump briefly left a White House meeting with European leaders on Monday to make a call to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The leaders were gathered in the East Room when Trump stepped out for the call, which he had earlier told reporters in the Oval Office was “expected” by Putin. The meeting reportedly resumed once Trump returned.

It’s unclear what the two presidents discussed. The call came on the same day Trump had met both publicly and privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to talk about possible steps toward halting the war.

During his 2024 campaign, Trump had promised that he could end the war in Ukraine on “day one” of his presidency. But months into his term, little progress has been made. The fighting, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, has already taken hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides.

Last week’s Alaska peace summit between Trump and Putin was billed as a breakthrough moment, but it ended with no major agreements. Trump, who had been advocating for a ceasefire, shifted his language afterward. Instead of calling for an immediate halt in fighting, he emphasized the idea of a broader “peace agreement.”

That shift is significant. Russia has pushed for a peace agreement that would likely require Ukraine to give up territory or abandon its NATO ambitions—conditions Ukraine has repeatedly rejected. A ceasefire, on the other hand, would give Ukraine valuable time to regroup militarily, something Moscow wants to avoid.

In his Oval Office meeting, Zelensky told Trump he was ready for a “trilateral” summit with both him and Putin to work toward an end to the war. When asked by a reporter whether U.S. support for Ukraine might soon run out if no deal is reached, Trump replied: “It’s never the end of the road. People are being killed and we want to stop that. So I would not say it’s the end of the road.”

Zelensky, sitting beside him, shook his head at the suggestion that U.S. backing could end. Trump added: “I know [Zelensky], I know myself, and I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it end.”

Whether that belief proves true—or whether Putin uses these openings to push his own long-standing demands—remains to be seen.