Trump pauses US military aid to Ukraine while pressuring Zelenskyy to move toward quick end to war

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has directed a “pause” to U.S. assistance to Ukraine after a disastrous Oval Office meeting as he seeks to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to engage in negotiations to end the war with Russia. A White House official said Monday (March 3, 2025) that Trump is focused on reaching a peace deal and wants Zelenskyy “committed” to that goal. The official added that the U.S. was “pausing and reviewing” its aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution.” The official said the order will remain in effect until Trump determines that Ukraine has demonstrated a commitment to peace negotiations with Russia. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the assistance.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday (March 3, 2025) directed a “pause” to U.S. assistance to Ukraine as he seeks to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to engage in negotiations to end the war with Russia.

The move comes just days after a disastrous Oval Office meeting in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance tore into Zelenskyy for what they perceived as insufficient gratitude for the more than $180 billion U.S. has appropriated for military aid and other assistance to Kyiv since the start of Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

A White House official said Trump is focused on reaching a peace deal and wants Zelenskyy “committed” to that goal. The official added that the U.S. was “pausing and reviewing” its aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the assistance.

The order will remain in effect until Trump determines that Ukraine has demonstrated a commitment to peace negotiations with Russia, the official said.

The halting of military aid comes some five years after Trump held up congressionally authorized assistance to Ukraine as he sought to pressure Zelenskyy to launch an investigation into Joe Biden, then a Democratic presidential candidate. The moment led to Trump’s first impeachment.

In the leadup to the 2024 election, Trump vowed a quick end to the war in Ukraine, even once boasting that he could bring a halt to the fighting in one day. He has shown increasing frustration with Zelenskyy over the war while simultaneously expressing confidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he has long admired, can be trusted to keep the peace if a truce is reached.

Trump earlier on Monday slammed Zelenskyy for suggesting that the end of the war likely “is still very, very far away.” Zelenskyy had suggested it would take time to come to an agreement to end the war as he tried to offer a positive take on the U.S.-Ukraine relationship in the aftermath of last week’s White House meeting.

“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform, responding to comments Zelenskyy made late Sunday to reporters.

Trump, at a White House event later Monday, referred to Zelenskyy’s reported comments and asserted the Ukrainian leader “better not be right about that.”

Zelenskyy later took to social media in an effort to further explain his thinking. He did not directly refer to Trump’s comments, but underscored that it “is very important that we try to make our diplomacy really substantive to end this war the soonest possible.”

“We need real peace and Ukrainians want it most because the war ruins our cities and towns,” Zelenskyy added. “We lose our people. We need to stop the war and to guarantee security.”

Trump administration and Ukrainian officials had been expected to sign off on a deal during Zelenskyy’s visit last week that would have given the U.S. access to Ukraine’s critical minerals in part to pay back the U.S. for aid it has sent Kyiv since the start of the war. The White House had billed such a pact as a way to tighten U.S.-Ukrainian relations in the long term.

Vance, in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that aired Monday evening, said European allies were doing Ukraine a disservice by not pressing Zelenskyy to find an endgame to the war.

“A lot of our European friends puff him up,” Vance said. “They say, you know, you’re a freedom fighter. You need to keep fighting forever. Well, fighting forever with what? With whose money, with whose ammunition and with whose lives?”

Democrats said the pausing of aid to Ukraine was dangerous and ill-advised.

Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, who is co-chair of the Congressional EU Caucus, said the decision “is reckless, indefensible, and a direct threat to our national security.”

The Biden administration provided Kyiv with more than $66.5 billion in military aid and weapons since the war began. It had left unspent about $3.85 billion in congressionally authorized funding to send more weapons to Ukraine from existing U.S. stockpiles — a sum that had not been affected by the foreign aid freeze that Trump put in place when he first took office.

“This aid was approved by Congress on a bipartisan basis — Republicans and Democrats alike recognized that standing with Ukraine is standing for democracy and against Putin’s aggression,” Boyle said in a statement. “Yet, Trump, who has repeatedly praised Putin and undermined our allies, is now playing political games with critical military assistance.”

Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, who served as counsel to House Democrats in the first impeachment inquiry against Trump, said the pausing of aid was “another extortion” of Zelenskyy.

“This is the exact opposite of peace through strength,” Goldman said. “Instead, what it is is it’s another extortion of President Zelenskyy, illegally withholding aid in order to get President Zelenskyy to agree to a minerals deal.”

Trump’s national security adviser said Zelenskyy’s posture during Friday’s Oval Office talks “put up in the air” whether he’s someone the U.S. administration will be able to deal with going forward.

“Is he ready, personally, politically, to move his country towards an end to the fighting?” Mike Waltz said Monday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” “And can he and will he make the compromises necessary?”

Waltz added another layer of doubt about U.S. support as other high-profile Trump allies, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Sen. Lindsey Graham, have suggested that the relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy is becoming untenable.

Angela Stent, a former national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council, said Putin is likely in no rush to end the war amid the fissures between Trump and Zelenskyy and between Europe and the U.S. about the way ahead.

“He thinks Russia is winning. … And he thinks that as time goes on, the West will be more fractured,” said Stent, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Trump on Monday suggested he hasn’t given up on the economic pact, calling it “a great deal.” He added that he expected to speak about the deal during his Tuesday address before a joint session of Congress.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican who co-chairs the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, spoke with Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, earlier Monday about getting the mineral rights deal back on track.

Key GOP senators also indicated before the announcement of paused aid that they see a path to put U.S.-Ukraine relations back on track.

“We got to lower the temperature,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., “and get to a deal that’s economically beneficial and takes care of our interests as well as the interests of the Ukrainian people.”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican who is a close ally of Trump, said he believes the president and Zelenskyy can “move past it.”

“Getting the minerals deal done is a first step,” Mullin said. After that, he said, Zelenskyy needs to be “realistic on what a peace deal looks like.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has shouted at Ukraine’s leader during an extraordinary meeting in the Oval Office, berating President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for “gambling with millions of lives” and suggesting his actions could trigger World War III. The last 10 minutes of the nearly 45-minute engagement on Friday (Feb. 28, 2025) devolved into a tense back and forth between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelenskyy — who had urged skepticism about Russia’s commitment to diplomacy, citing Moscow’s years of broken commitments on the global stage. It began with Vance telling Zelenskyy, “Mr. President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump shouted at Ukraine’s leader on Friday (Feb. 28, 2025) during an extraordinary meeting in the Oval Office, berating President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for “gambling with millions of lives” and suggesting his actions could trigger World War III.

The last 10 minutes of the nearly 45-minute engagement devolved into a tense back and forth between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelenskyy — who had urged skepticism about Russia’s commitment to diplomacy, citing Moscow’s years of broken commitments on the global stage.

It began with Vance telling Zelenskyy, “Mr. President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”

Zelensky tried to object, prompting Trump to raise his voice and say, “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people.”

“You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have,” Trump said.

It was an astonishing display of open antagonism in the Oval Office, a setting better known for somber diplomacy. Trump laid bare his efforts to coerce Zelenskyy to agree to giving the U.S. an interest in his country’s valuable minerals and to push him toward a diplomatic resolution to the war on the American leader’s terms.

Earlier in the meeting Trump said the U.S. would continue to provide military assistance to Ukraine, but said he hoped that not too much aid would be forthcoming. “We’re not looking forward to sending a lot of arms,” Trump said. “We’re looking forward to getting the war finished so we can do other things.”

Trump suggested that Zelenskyy wasn’t in a position to be demanding concessions.

“You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now,” Trump said pointing his finger toward Zelenskyy. “With us you start having cards.”

He also accused Zelenskyy of being “disrespectful” to the U.S.

“It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this,” Trump told Zelenskyy at one point, as the two leaders talked over each other about past international support for Ukraine.

“Again, just say thank you,” Vance interjected to Zelenskyy, blasting him for litigating “disagreements” in front of the press. Trump, though, suggested he was fine with the drama. “I think it’s good for the American people to see what’s going on,” he added.

“You’re not acting at all thankful,” Trump said, before adding, “This is going to be great television.”

The harsh words came at a pivotal and precarious moment for Ukraine. Zelenskyy had planned to try to convince the White House to provide some form of U.S. backing for Ukraine’s security against any future Russian aggression.

Zelenskyy is still expected to sign a landmark economic agreement with the U.S. aimed at financing the reconstruction of war-damaged Ukraine, a deal that would closely tie the two countries together for years to come.

The deal, which is seen as a step toward ending the three-year war, references the importance of Ukraine’s security. Earlier in the meeting, before tempers flared, Trump said the agreement would be signed soon in the East Room of the White House.

“We have something that is a very fair deal,” Trump said, adding, “It is a big commitment from the United States.”

He said the U.S. wants to see the killing in the war stopped, adding that U.S. money for Ukraine should be “put to different kinds of use like rebuilding.”

Earlier, Zelenskyy called Russian President Vladimir Putin a terrorist and told Trump that Ukraine and the world need “no compromises with a killer.”

“Even during the war there are rules,” he said.

As Ukrainian forces hold out against slow but steady advances by Russia’s larger and better-equipped army, leaders in Kyiv have pushed to ensure a potential U.S.-brokered peace plan would include guarantees for the country’s future security.

Many Ukrainians fear that a hastily negotiated peace — especially one that makes too many concessions to Russian demands — would allow Moscow to rearm and consolidate its forces for a future invasion after current hostilities cease.

According to the preliminary economic agreement, seen by The Associated Press, the U.S. and Ukraine will establish a co-owned, jointly managed investment fund to which Ukraine will contribute 50% of future revenues from natural resources, including minerals, hydrocarbons and other extractable materials.

Speaking about the rare earths agreement, Trump said the U.S. is lacking in many such minerals while Ukraine has among the best on the planet. He said U.S. interests plan to take those reserves and use them on everything from artificial intelligence operations to military weapons.

Asked about long-term security guarantee to guard against future Russian aggression, Trump says once the agreement is signed that a return to fighting was unlikely.

Trump, a Republican, has framed the emerging agreement as a chance for Kyiv to compensate the U.S. for wartime aid sent under his predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden.

But Zelenskyy has remained firm that specific assurances for Ukraine’s security must accompany any agreement giving U.S. access to Ukraine’s resources.

This is Zelenskyy’s fifth White House visit, but his previous four came during the Biden administration. The Ukrainian president also was meeting with U.S. senators during his time in Washington.

Fears that Trump could broker a peace deal with Russia that is unfavorable to Ukraine have been amplified by recent precedent-busting actions by his administration. Trump held a lengthy phone call with Putin, and U.S. officials met with their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia without inviting European or Ukrainian leaders — both dramatic breaks with previous U.S. policy to isolate Putin over his invasion.

Trump later seemed to falsely blame Ukraine for starting the war, and called Zelenskyy a “dictator” for not holding elections after the end of his regular term last year, though Ukrainian law prohibits elections while martial law is in place.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he’s hopeful Russia’s war in Ukraine is nearing an endgame as he meets with French President Emmanuel Macron on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion. But France’s leader cautioned Monday (Feb. 24, 2025) that it’s crucial that any potential agreement with Moscow does not amount to surrender for Ukraine. Trump said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine. Trump also said he hoped the conflict can end within weeks and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will soon come to the U.S. to sign a deal to give America access to Ukraine’s critical minerals. Amid deep uncertainty about the future of transatlantic relations, France and the U.S. were at loggerheads at the United Nations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump expressed hope that Russia’s war in Ukraine is nearing an endgame as he met Monday (Feb. 24, 2025) with French President Emmanuel Macron on the third anniversary of the invasion. But France’s leader cautioned that it’s crucial that any potential agreement with Moscow does not amount to surrender for Ukraine.

Their talks come at a moment of deep uncertainty about the future of transatlantic relations, with Trump transforming American foreign policy and effectively tuning out European leadership as he looks to quickly end the war in Ukraine.

While Macron and Trump made nice at the White House, their countries were at loggerheads at the United Nations over resolutions describing Russia as the aggressor in the war.

In broad comments on the state of the conflict, Trump said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine.

“Yeah, he will accept it,” Trump told reporters. “I have asked him that question. Look, if we do this deal, he’s not looking for more war.”

And Trump said he hoped that the war could end within weeks and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would soon come to the U.S. to sign a deal giving America access to Ukraine’s critical minerals, which are used in key technology.

Trump is pressing the economic deal to help repay some of the $180 billion in American aid for Kyiv since the start of the war — tens of billions of which is being spent in the U.S. to replenish older weapons sent to Ukraine.

“It looks like we’re getting very close,” Trump told reporters of the minerals deal before his meeting with Macron. He said Zelenskyy could potentially visit Washington this week or next to sign it.

Ensuring security for Ukraine

Ukraine also is looking for future security guarantees as part of any agreement. Trump, however, did not say whether the emerging deal would include such assurances from the United States: “Europe is going to make sure nothing happens.”

A French official with knowledge of Macron’s meeting with Trump said the U.S. president didn’t object to the need for U.S. security guarantees in a possible peace deal but details were still being worked out. The official wasn’t authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

At a joint press conference, Macron acknowledged that European nations must do more to bolster defense on the continent. But he also warned against capitulating to Russia.

“This peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine,” Macron said. “It must not mean a ceasefire without guarantees. This peace must allow for Ukrainian sovereignty.”

Macron cut off direct communication with Putin after Russian forces carried out brutal operations in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha months into the conflict. But he said the moment has changed and he hopes Trump’s engagement with Putin can lead to something fruitful.

“Now, there is a big chance because there is a new U.S. administration, so this is a new context,” Macron said. “So there is good reason for President Trump to reengage with President Putin.”

Putin said Monday that he has not discussed resolving the conflict in Ukraine in detail with Trump and neither did Russian and American negotiating teams when they met in Saudi Arabia last week.

Putin also said Russia does not rule out European countries — who were dismayed that they and Ukraine were not invited to the table in Riyadh — participating in a peace settlement.

America’s foreign policy turnaround

The war’s anniversary — and the talks at the White House — come at an unnerving moment for much of Europe as it witnesses a dramatic shift in American foreign policy under Trump.

Trump has made demands for territory — Greenland, Canada, Gaza and the Panama Canal. Just over a month into his second term, the “America First” president has cast an enormous shadow over what veteran U.S. diplomats and former government officials had regarded as America’s calming presence of global stability and continuity.

Despite some hiccups, the military, economic and moral power of the United States has dominated the post-World War II era, most notably after the Cold War came to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union. All of that, some fear, may be lost if Trump gets his way and the U.S. abandons the principles under which the United Nations and numerous other international bodies were founded.

“The only conclusion you can draw is that 80 years of policy in standing up against aggressors has just been blown up without any sort of discussion or reflection,” said Ian Kelly, a U.S. ambassador to Georgia during the Obama and first Trump administrations and now a professor at Northwestern University.

European leaders in Washington

Trump is set to hold a meeting Thursday with another key European leader, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Trump shook Europe with repeated criticism of Zelenskyy for failing to negotiate an end to the war and rebuffing a push to sign off on a deal giving the U.S. access to Ukraine’s critical minerals, which could be used in the American aerospace, medical and tech industries.

Zelenskyy initially bristled, saying it was short on security guarantees. He said Sunday on X that “we are making great progress“ but noted that “we want a good economic deal that will be part of a true security guarantee system for Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy, who said Sunday in response to a question that he would trade his office for peace or to join NATO, had angered Trump by saying the U.S. president was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space.”

In the public spat, Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator” and falsely charged Kyiv with starting the war. Russia, in fact, invaded its smaller and lesser-equipped neighbor in February 2022.

Asked Monday if he thought Putin was also a dictator, Trump demurred: “I don’t use those words lightly.”

Some daylight between allies

While Macron and Trump held talks, including participating in a virtual meeting with fellow Group of Seven leaders, the United States split with its European allies at the U.N. by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in a series of resolutions.

The U.S. abstained from voting on its own proposal after the Europeans, led by France, succeeded in changing it to make clear that Russia was the aggressor.

Before meeting with Trump, Macron said he intended to tell him that it’s in the joint interest of Americans and Europeans not to “be weak in the face of President Putin.”

“It’s not you, it’s not your trademark, it’s not in your interest,” Macron said. “How can you then be credible in the face of China if you’re weak in the face of Putin?”

Yet, Trump said this month he’d like to see Russia rejoin the G7. It was suspended from the G8 after annexing Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.

“I really believe he wants to make a deal,” Trump said. “I may be wrong, but I believe he wants to make a deal.

MIAMI (AP) — President Donald Trump has warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he “better move fast” to negotiate an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or risk not having a nation to lead. The rhetoric from Trump toward Ukraine comes amid an escalating back-and-forth between the two presidents and rising tensions between the United States and much of Europe over Trump’s approach to settling the biggest conflict on the continent since World War II. Trump’s broadside came not long after Zelenskyy’s comment that Trump was being influenced by Russian disinformation as he tries to bring the fighting to a close on terms that Kyiv says are too favorable to Moscow.

MIAMI (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Feb. 19, 2025) warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he “better move fast” to negotiate an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or risk not having a nation to lead.

The rhetoric from Trump toward Ukraine comes amid an escalating back-and-forth between the two presidents and rising tensions between Washington and much of Europe over Trump’s approach to settling the biggest conflict on the continent since World War II.

Trump’s harsh words for Zelenskyy drew criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans in the United States, where Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression has had bipartisan support. Zelenskyy said Trump was falling into a Russian disinformation trap — and was quickly admonished by Vice President JD Vance about the perils of publicly criticizing the new president.

Trump, who is trying to bring the fighting to a close on terms that Kyiv says are too favorable to Moscow, used an extended social media post on his Truth Social platform to lash out at Zelenskyy and call the Ukrainian a “dictator without elections.”

“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle,” Trump said of Zelenskyy, who was a popular television star in Ukraine before running for office.

The U.S. has obligated about $183 billion since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to the U.S. special inspector general, conducting oversight of American assistance to Ukraine.

Trump accused Zelenskyy of being “A Dictator without Elections!!” Due to the war, Ukraine did delay elections that were scheduled for April 2024.

He later repeated many of the criticisms of Zelenskyy, who he said has done a “terrible job,” during an address before a meeting in Miami of business executives hosted by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

Trump also contended that Zelenskyy was misusing American aid intended for the war effort and had taken advantage of Democrat Joe Biden’s administration.

The Republican president was riled by Zelenskyy’s charge that Trump “lives in this disinformation space” fostered by Moscow. “We have seen this disinformation. We understand that it is coming from Russia,” Zelenskyy said.

Vance told the Daily Mail that Zelenskyy’s criticism of Trump was not helping his cause. “The idea that Zelenskyy is going to change the president’s mind by bad mouthing him in public media, everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration,” Vance said.

Ukrainian officials, however, continue to raise their concerns about Trump’s approach.

“Why should dominance be handed over to a country that is an aggressor, a violator of international law, and the author of aggression against Ukraine?” said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy. “We still do not understand this strategy.”

U.S. and Russian officials meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday agreed to negotiate a settlement to an end to the war. Ukrainian and European officials were not included.

Trump said Zelenskyy should have worked out a deal earlier. “Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump said.

“In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going,” Trump wrote.

The rhetoric from Trump went even further than the false charges he made Tuesday against the Ukrainians when he suggested Kyiv was responsible for starting the war. Russia invaded its smaller neighbor.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York was appalled that Trump was blaming Ukraine for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

“It’s disgusting to see an American president turn against one of our friends and openly side with a thug like Vladimir Putin,” Schumer said.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said he disagreed with Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine was responsible.

“I think Vladimir Putin started the war,” Kennedy said. “I also believe, from bitter experience, that Vladimir Putin is a gangster. He’s a gangster with a black heart” who has Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s “taste for blood.”

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Trump’s words were insulting to the thousands of Ukrainians who have died in the war and he accused the president of parroting Putin. “I would call on President Trump to apologize to the people of Ukraine, but it would be a waste of breath,” Durbin said. “Donald Trump is a pushover for Putin.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota is among the Republican lawmakers who have supported Ukraine over the course of the war. He said the Trump administration needed space as it seeks a resolution. “The president speaks for himself,” Thune said about Trump’s sharpening rhetoric toward Zelenskyy. “What I want to see is a peaceful result, a peaceful outcome.”

The administration has also shown frustration with Zelenskyy for directing his ministers last week not to sign off on a proposed agreement to give the United States access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals. The Ukrainians said the document was too focused on U.S. interests.

The proposal, a key part of Zelenskyy’s talks with Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, did not offer any specific security guarantees in return. Trump during his speech in Miami fumed about the Ukrainians walking away from an agreement. “They broke that deal,” Trump charged.

Trump, speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One after his speech Wednesday evening, said the U.S. believed it had a deal on accessing Ukraine’s critical minerals when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent travelled to Kyiv last week.

Trump added the Ukrainians “agreed to it more or less and then Scott Bessent went there and was treated rather rudely because essentially they told him no.”

Ukrainian officials met Wednesday in Kyiv with retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.

“It’s an egregious war in the sense of the length of time and casualties there and he understands the human suffering,” Kellogg said of Trump’s thinking. “He understands the damage that we can see and we want to see an end to it.”

UNDATED (AP)- Russian officials and state media have taken a triumphant tone after President Donald Trump jettisoned three years of U.S. policy and announced he would likely meet soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate a peace deal in the almost three-year-long war in Ukraine. Trump’s change of tack seemed to identify Putin as the only player that matters in ending the fighting. It looked set to sideline Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy, as well as European governments, in any peace negotiations. Zelenskyy says he will not accept any agreements about Ukraine that do not include his country in the talks.

UNDATED (AP)- Russian officials and state media took a triumphant tone Thursday (Feb. 13, 2025) after President Donald Trump jettisoned three years of U.S. policy and announced he would likely meet soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate a peace deal in the almost three-year war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said he would not accept any negotiations about Ukraine that do not include his country in the talks. European governments also demanded a seat at the table.

Trump’s change of tack seemed to identify Putin as the only player that matters in ending the fighting and looked set to sideline Zelenskyy, as well as European governments, in any peace talks. The Ukrainian leader recently described that prospect as “very dangerous.”

Putin has been ostracized by the West since Russia’s Feburary 2022 invasion of its neighbor, and in 2023 the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader alleging war crimes.

Trump’s announcement created a major diplomatic upheaval that could herald a watershed moment for Ukraine and Europe.

Russia rejoices at Putin’s spotlight role

Russian officials and state-backed media sounded triumphant after Wednesday’s call between Trump and Putin that lasted more than an hour.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that the “position of the current (U.S.) administration is much more appealing.”

The deputy chair of Russia’s National Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said in an online statement: “The presidents of Russia and the U.S. have talked at last. This is very important in and of itself.”

Senior lawmaker Alexei Pushkov said the call “will go down in the history of world politics and diplomacy.”

“I am sure that in Kyiv, Brussels, Paris and London they are now reading Trump’s lengthy statement on his conversation with Putin with horror and cannot believe their eyes,” Pushkov wrote on his messaging app.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said in an opinion column: “The U.S. finally hurt Zelenskyy for real,” adding that Trump had found “common ground” with Putin.

“This means that the formula ‘nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine’ — a sacred cow for Zelenskyy, the European Union and the previous U.S. administration — no longer exists. Moreover, the opinion of Kyiv and Brussels (the European Union) is of no interest to Trump at all,” it added.

The pro-Kremlin Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda went even further and published a column stating in the headline that “Trump signed Zelenskyy’s death sentence.”

“The myth of Russia as a ‘pariah’ in global politics, carefully inflated by Western propaganda, has burst with a bang,” the column said.

Zelenskyy won’t accept talks without Ukraine

In his first comments to journalists since Trump held individual calls first with Putin and then Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian leader conceded that it was “not very pleasant” that the American president spoke first to Putin. But he said the main issue was to “not allow everything to go according to Putin’s plan.”

“We cannot accept it, as an independent country, any agreements (made) without us,” Zelenskyy said as he visited a nuclear power plant in western Ukraine.

During the conversation with Trump on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said, the U.S. president told him he wanted to speak to both the Russian and Ukrainian leaders at the same time.

“He never mentioned in a conversation that Putin and Russia was a priority. We, today, trust these words. For us it is very important to preserve the support of the United States of America,” Zelenskyy said.

Alarm bells ring in Europe and NATO

Trump appears ready to make a deal over the heads of Ukraine and European governments.

He also effectively dashed Ukraine’s hopes of becoming part of NATO, which the alliance said less than a year ago was an “irreversible” step, or getting back the parts of its territory captured so far by the Russian army. Russia currently occupies close to 20% of the country.

The U.S. administration’s approach to a potential settlement is notably close to Moscow’s vision of how the war should end. That has caused alarm and tension within the 32-nation NATO alliance and 27-nation European Union.

Some European governments that fear their countries could also be in the Kremlin’s crosshairs were alarmed by Washington’s new course, saying they must be part of negotiations.

“Ukraine, Europe and the United States should work on this together. TOGETHER,” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote Wednesday on social media.

EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said: “It is clear that any deal behind our backs will not work. You need the Europeans. You need the Ukrainians.”

Others balked at Trump’s overtures and poured cold water on his upbeat outlook.

“Just as Putin has no intention of stopping hostilities even during potential talks, we must maintain Western unity and increase support … to Ukraine, and political and economic pressure on Russia,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said. “Our actions must show that we are not changing course.”

A Ukrainian soldier is resigned to Trump and Putin talking

A soldier from Ukraine’s 53rd Brigade fighting in the eastern Donetsk region said it was normal for Trump and Putin to speak to each other.

“If dialogue is one way to influence the situation, then let them talk — but let it be meaningful enough for us to feel the results of those talks,” the soldier said, insisting on anonymity due to security risks for her family in occupied Ukrainian territory.

But she was skeptical about the negotiations, given the incompatible demands tabled in the past by Russia and Ukraine.

“The conditions are unacceptable for everyone. What we propose doesn’t work for them, and what they propose is unacceptable for us,” she said. “That’s why I, like probably every soldier here, believe this can only be resolved by force.”

A Ukrainian army officer, who said he’s in touch with more than 40 brigades, said the troops he regularly speaks with don’t want a peace deal at any price even as they are desperate for more Western military aid.

“The stock we currently have, in terms of ammunition, is enough to last two or three weeks, maybe a month,” he told The Associated Press, asking that his name not be used because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.

“We definitely cannot deal with it on our own,” he added.