President Trump and Putin Speak about Ukraine

President Trump spent ninety minutes on Wednesday morning speaking with Vladimir Putin. After the President swore in Tulsi Gabbard as his new Director of National Intelligence, he took questions from reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump said that Vladimir Putin wants peace in Ukraine and wants the war to end. Both men agreed to start peace negotiations immediately. The President didn’t reveal what the peace deal might look like. However, he did reveal that he spoke to Volodymyr Zelensky after his conversation with Putin. He said Zelensky is ready to negotiate for peace as well.

When asked whether Ukraine would be allowed to join NATO, Trump said he was okay with it not doing so. He continued by saying that many people are against Ukraine joining NATO.

When reporters pressed the President on whether Ukraine would have to give up land for peace, he said that they probably would but may get some of it back.

President Trump also alluded that Putin may come to the United States, and he might go to Moscow in the future. He suggested they first meet in Saudi Arabia.

Earlier in the day meeting with his NATO counterparts in Europe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Ukraine would not be admitted into NATO and that American troops would not be sent to Ukraine to keep the peace. Any peace deal would have to be maintained by European and non-European troops. They would be deployed as non-NATO troops and not be covered by Article Five. He also declared that the United States would no longer be able to protect Europe as we have to prioritize our border security.

The Russians, through Dmitry Peskov, signaled that they were very happy with the call and the mood in Moscow was positive. The Russians said any peace deal would have to address “the root causes of the war”.

Russia rejected President Zelensky’s offer to swap the occupied territory in the Kursk region for Ukrainian-occupied territory. Russia responded that Kursk would not be a part of any diplomatic discussion. The country would win back its territory on the battlefield instead.

While these events were happening on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Bessent was on his way to Kyiv to negotiate a deal with the Ukrainian government for its rare earth metals and minerals, some of it locked away in the occupied territories.