President Donald Trump signaled that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants to make a deal for me” while quietly speaking with French President Emmanuel Macron shortly before hosting European leaders at the White House on Monday.
While waiting for other world leaders to trickle into the East Room to discuss a security resolution for Ukraine and his recent meeting with Putin, Trump was caught on a hot mic sharing his perspective with Macron.
«I think he wants to make a deal,” Trump said quietly. “I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand? As crazy as it sounds.»
Trump met with Putin in Alaska on Friday, their first meeting since 2019, to begin discussions about Putin coming to the peace talks table to end the war in Ukraine. For the last several months, the U.S. president has sought to broker a deal between the two countries to end the three-and-a-half-year-long war, but has hit various roadblocks.
While Trump and Putin’s meeting did not end in an official deal, Trump said it was a positive conversation – he repeated those vague assertions publicly on Monday.
“I’ve known him for a long time, I’ve always had a great relationship with him,” Trump said on Monday. “I think President Putin wants to find an answer, too. We’ll see.”
When reached for comment, the White House referred The Independent to similar comments that the U.S. president made on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show last week.
“We spoke very sincerely, I think he wants to see it done,” Trump said of his meeting with Putin.
But it is clear that Putin may be willing to strike a deal, under the right terms. That could include Ukraine handing over the remainder of the Donbas region to Russia – a controversial plan that Trump appeared open to.
Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, seeking to seize territory of the region that once was part of the U.S.S.R. However, Putin baselessly claimed he was initiating the war to protect Russians in the Donbas region from Ukrainians who he accused of being Nazis.
Ukraine, and its allies, have said the country should not give up its territory to Russia, the aggressor.
While Trump had previously said an immediate ceasefire necessary, he appeared to drop that condition after his meeting with the Russian president as well.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at the White House on Monday to discuss details of Putin’s conversation with Trump.
Other leaders, including Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, E.U. Commisioner President Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte joined the meeting.
As part of Trump and Putin’s discussion, Russia supposedly told the Trump administration that the U.S. and its European allies could extend security guarantees to Ukraine.
Trump reaffirmed that the U.S. would support Ukraine though he did not specify what they may look like.
The U.S. president said he was planning to speak with Putin after meeting with European leaders.
