KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump reversed course in the wake of his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to say an overall peace agreement — not the ceasefire that he has long championed — is the next step in ending the 3 1/2-year war in Ukraine.
In talks with European allies after Friday's summit in Alaska, Trump said Putin reiterated that he wants the key Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the Donbas. But Putin appeared open to the possibility of halting the stalemate in two other regions, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, with a freeze along the front lines.
That is according to European officials familiar with the calls who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks at a U.S. military base between the American and Russian presidents. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously rejected giving up the territory in the Donbas.
The aftermath of the summit offered little clarity about the next steps, other than Trump's commitment for more meetings, including with Zelenskyy at the White House on Monday. It was unclear among those briefed on the exchanges whether Trump saw Putin's desire for the Donbas as acceptable, with Trump's blunt but elliptical way of speaking only adding to a sense of confusion.
The White House had yet to provide a public summary of the calls as Trump golfed on Saturday with his special envoy Steve Witkoff and Fox News anchor Bret Baier at his Virginia golf club. The most transparent takeaway was Trump's abrupt reversal on a ceasefire, raising questions of how peace talks can proceed if attacks continue.
Trump's abandoning a ceasefire as a requirement for further negotiations aligns him with a position held by Putin. The Russian leader has long said Moscow is not interested in a temporary truce and is seeking a long-term settlement that takes the Kremlin’s interests into account.
Trump says he is focused on a peace accord, not a ceasefire
After the calls with Zelenskyy and European leaders, Trump said Saturday on social media that “it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told ZDF television that Trump said “Russia seems to be prepared to conduct the negotiations based on the so-called line of contact and not the administrative boundaries.” It was unclear from the comments how issues pertaining to the Donbas had been resolved.
Zelenskyy has previously refused to withdraw from the remaining 30% of the Donetsk region that Ukraine controls. He says that would be unconstitutional and the territory could be used as a staging ground for later Russian attacks.
In a statement after the Trump call, major European leaders did not address whether a peace deal was preferable to a ceasefire, saying they “welcomed President Trump’s efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine, end Russia’s war of aggression, and achieve just and lasting peace.”
Putin's view on his summit with Trump
Putin on Saturday described his talks with Trump as “very frank.”
“We, of course, respect the position of the American administration, which sees the need for a speedy end to military actions,” he said at the follow-up meeting at the Kremlin, a clip of which was posted to the Kremlin’s Telegram channel. “We would like to move to resolving all issues by peaceful means.”
Putin has “broken out of international isolation” and “wasn’t in the least challenged” by Trump, who also ignored an arrest warrant issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court, said Laurie Bristow, who was British ambassador to Russia from 2016 to 2020. But the U.S. isn’t a member of the court and thus doesn’t have an obligation to arrest him.
Zelenskyy gears up for a White House meeting
Zelenskyy, who was not invited to Alaska for the summit, said he had a “long and substantive” conversation with Trump early Saturday and that they would “discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war” on Monday.
It will be Zelenskyy’s first visit to the United States since Trump berated him publicly for being “disrespectful” during an extraordinary Oval Office meeting in February.
Trump confirmed the White House meeting and said that “if all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin.”
Zelenskyy reiterated the importance of involving European leaders, who also were not at the summit, “to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America.”
“We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security,” he said.
The Ukrainian leader did not elaborate, but he has previously said European partners put on hold a proposal to establish a foreign troop presence in Ukraine to deter Russian aggression because it lacked an American backstop.
In apparent effort to bolster Zelenskyy’s hand before the White House meeting, France, the United Kingdom and Germany will co-host a video call Sunday of “coalition of the willing” nations that could help monitor and uphold any deal to end fighting, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said.
Europeans urge security guarantees for Ukraine
The French, German, Italian, British, Finnish, Polish and European Union leaders said “Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees” and they welcomed U.S. readiness to provide them.
“It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory,” their statement said. “International borders must not be changed by force.”
During an interview with Fox News Channel before returning to Washington, Trump insisted the onus might be on Zelenskyy “to get it done,” but that there also would be some involvement from European nations.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said “the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon,” noting that Moscow launched new attacks on Ukraine even as the delegations met.
“Putin continues to drag out negotiations and hopes he gets away with it. He left Anchorage without making any commitments to end the killing,” she said.
Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting along a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. Since spring, Russian troops have accelerated their gains, capturing the most territory since the opening stages of the war.
Questions on a trilateral meeting
Zelenskyy voiced support for Trump’s proposal for a meeting with the U.S. and Russia. He said that “key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this.”
But Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told Russian state television Saturday that a possible three-way meeting “has not been touched upon yet” in U.S.-Russia discussions.
Zelenskyy wrote on X that he told Trump "sanctions should be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia tries to evade an honest end to the war.“
Fiona Hill, Trump’s former senior adviser on Russia, told The Associated Press that the U.S. president has met his match because “Putin is a much bigger bully than Trump is.”
“He’s run out of his persuasive powers with Putin,” said Hill, adding that Trump has “plenty” of coercive powers to use against the Russian leader but “he doesn’t want to use them.”
“Ukrainians want peace for sure, and Putin wants pieces of Ukraine," she said. "Very large pieces.”
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Leicester reported from Paris and Burrows from London. Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin, Elise Morton in London and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.
