President Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants to stop fighting” and shot down a suggestion that Putin’s ambitions could extend beyond Ukraine’s borders.
“I think he wants to stop fighting. I see that. We spoke long and hard. [Middle East envoy] Steve Witkoff was with him for a very extended period, like about three hours. I think he wants to stop fighting,” Trump told reporters on Sunday, when asked what he thinks Putin wants.
“They have a big, powerful machine. You understand that,” Trump continued. “And they defeated Hitler and they defeated Napoleon. You know, they’ve been fighting a long time. They’ve done it before… but I think he would like to stop fighting.”
The remarks come as the Trump administration seeks to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, which began nearly three years ago when Putin led an unprovoked invasion into its neighbor, Ukraine.
Asked about Putin’s territorial ambitions — and whether he thinks Putin wants the whole of Ukraine’s land — Trump said he asked Putin the same question.
“I think he wants to stop. That was my question to him. Because if he’s going to go on, that would have been a big problem for us, and that would have caused me a big problem, because you just can’t let that happen,” Trump said.
“I think he wants to end it. And they want to end it fast. Both of them,” Trump continued, noting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “wants to end it too.”
In an interview that aired Sunday on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” Zelensky told host Kristen Welker that, when he last talked to Trump, the Ukrainian president advised Trump against trusting Putin when he says he wants peace. Zelensky said he told Trump that Putin is “a liar” and is “a little bit scared” of Trump.
“And I think the president has this chance, and he’s strong,” Zelensky said of Trump. “And I think that really he can push Putin to peace negotiations. Yes, I think so. I think he can, but don’t trust him. Don’t trust Putin. Don’t trust just words about ceasefire.”
Zelensky also said in the interview that “we believe that Putin will wage war against NATO,” adding, “we have intelligence, we have documents that they are preparing trained mission of a big number of soldiers on the territory of Belarus.” He said he worries there’s a risk that Putin will target Poland and Lithuania next.
Asked about Zelensky’s warning about Putin’s potential war against NATO, Trump said, “No, I don’t agree. I don’t agree. Not even a little bit.”
