Trump Issues Warning to Putin After Summit Prep With Europe

Yahoo

2 days ago

(Bloomberg) -- US President Donald Trump warned he would impose 'very severe consequences' if Vladimir Putin didn't agree to a ceasefire agreement later this week, following a call with European leaders ahead of his meeting with the Russian president.
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Trump also said he hoped to use the Friday meeting to set up a 'quick second meeting' with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy after allies pressed him to push for such a summit.
'There's a very good chance that we're going to have a second meeting which will be more productive than the first,' Trump told reporters Wednesday at the Kennedy Center, adding that he was 'setting the table for the second meeting.'
The president's remarks signaled both that he was looking to downplay expectations for the delivery of a full peace deal from his Anchorage, Alaska summit with Putin, and responding to concerns from his European partners who urged him to prioritize direct Putin-Zelenskiy talks.
Skeptics of Trump's effort have expressed concern that the US president — who has said an eventual deal would include territorial exchanges — could agree to peace terms proposed by Putin that would disadvantage Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking to reporters Wednesday after the call, said that any decision on possible concessions on territory will need to be made by Ukraine and there were no 'serious territorial exchange plans on the table today.'
'Trump was very clear on the fact that the US wants to obtain a ceasefire at this meeting in Alaska,' Macron told reporters in Bregancon, France. 'We have reiterated that until there is a ceasefire and a lasting peace, we must continue to support Ukraine, and when I say we I mean Europeans and Americans.'
Trump and US Vice President JD Vance joined European leaders including from Germany, France, Poland and Italy as well as Zelenskiy and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in a roughly hour-long discussion. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who also took part, said in a post on social media that the leaders had a 'very good call' and that it 'strengthened the common ground for Ukraine.'
Trump similarly described the call, saying he would 'rate it a 10' and said he had promised to brief Zelenskiy and European leaders immediately after concluding his conversation. Trump also said he would be willing to walk away if he judged Putin as insincere.
'Now there may be no second meeting, because if I feel that it's not appropriate to have it, because I didn't get the answers that we have to have, then we're not going to have a second meeting,' Trump said.
The talks came after days of intense diplomacy between US, European and Ukrainian officials ahead of Trump's planned meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who hosted the call with the US leader, reiterated that Ukraine would need to be involved in any decisions.
'We have made it clear that Ukraine will be at the table as soon as there is a follow-up meeting,' Merz told reporters in Berlin alongside Zelenskiy. 'President Trump wants to make a ceasefire a priority.'
Moscow is demanding that Ukraine cede its entire eastern Donbas region as well as Crimea, which Putin's forces illegally annexed in 2014, as a condition to unlock a ceasefire and enter negotiations over a lasting settlement, Bloomberg previously reported.
Such an outcome would require the government in Kyiv to give up parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces still under its control and hand Russia a victory that its army couldn't achieve militarily for more than a decade.
Zelenskiy told reporters earlier this week that he won't cede Donbas, adding that the Kremlin could use it as a launchpad for a future offensive. European nations have made clear to the US that they will not formally recognize territory illegally occupied by Russia.
Macron said questions about the territory 'will only be negotiated by the Ukrainian president.'
'We support this position and it was very clearly expressed by President Trump,' he told reporters, adding that the US leader 'will also fight to obtain' a trilateral meeting with with Putin and Zelenskiy.
Kyiv and its allies argue that a truce along the current battle-lines should be the first step toward formal negotiations. European leaders also stressed to Trump that Ukraine needs robust security guarantees to ensure that any deal holds.
'If there is no movement on the Russian side in Alaska, then the United States and we Europeans should and must increase the pressure,' Merz said. 'President Trump is aware of this position and largely shares it.'
Trump hasn't implemented any direct measures against Moscow so far, though he doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50% last week for its purchases of Russian oil, sparking outrage in New Delhi.
He threatened to ramp up economic pressure on Moscow unless Putin agreed to a ceasefire by last Friday. That deadline passed without any further action after the two sides announced their first summit meeting since Trump's return to the White House in January.
European leaders also said that Trump, Putin and Zelenskiy could aim to formalize a ceasefire alongside an agreement on the core parameters for peace negotiations at a trilateral meeting, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Zelenskiy said the participants in the call agreed that there 'must be security guarantees and they must be stronger if Russia does not agree to ceasefire in Alaska.'
'We need more pressure — not only American but also European sanctions,' Zelenskiy said.
--With assistance from Kavita Mokha, James Regan, Kateryna Chursina, Iain Rogers, Hadriana Lowenkron and Josh Wingrove.
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