Donald Trump makes strange claim after speaking to Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky

Megan Palin in the US and Samuel Clench

Mr Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine has been ongoing since February of 2022, on the phone earlier today, later describing it as a “good and very productive” conversation.

He then hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago.

During a joint press conference with Mr Zelensky after their negotiations, Mr Trump was asked about something that remains a few steps down the track: whether Russia will be made to help Ukraine rebuild once the war is over as part of any peace agreement.

“Did you discuss what responsibility Russia will have for any kind of reconstruction of Ukraine (as part of) an agreement?” a reporter asked him, referring to the President’s phone call with Putin.

“I did,” said Mr Trump.

“They’re going to be helping. Russia is going to be helping. Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed. It sounds very strange.

“Putin was very generous in his feelings toward Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy, electricity and other things at very low prices. So a lot of good things came out of that call today.”

Mr Trump said he was on the phone with Putin for “about two-and-a-half hours”.

Asked whether Putin had been open to a ceasefire in Ukraine, he replied “not a ceasefire”.

“He feels that - look, you know, they’re fighting, and to stop. And then if they have to start again, which is a possibility, he doesn’t want to be in that position. I understand that position. I understand Putin from that standpoint.”

Another sticking point is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest such facility in Europe. Russia seized it in 2022; it’s currently not operating. Putin wants to keep control of it, while Ukraine has proposed trilateral control between itself, Russia and the United States.

Each side has accused the other of attacking the plant throughout the war.

“Putin is actually working with Ukraine on getting it open. He’s been very good in that sense. He wants to see that open, and he hasn’t hit it with missiles, hasn’t hit it with anything,” said Mr Trump, as Mr Zelensky stood next to him.

On the status of the Donbas, the region in eastern Ukraine where Russia is demanding that Ukraine turn over territory Putin’s forces don’t even occupy, Mr Trump acknowledged it’s “a very tough issue”.

“But one I think we’ll get resolved,” he added.

“There are one or two thorny issues, very tough issues, but I think we’re doing very well.”

The remarks from Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky, after their meeting, were warm but light on details.

Speaking generally, Mr Trump said the meeting was “excellent” and they’d made “a lot of progress”. Mr Zelensky thanked him for a “warm and substantial discussion”, and said the two parties were “90 per cent” of the way to an agreement. He had used the same figure in comments before the summit.

The Ukrainian President said officials from both countries would hold subsequent meetings to finalise more details.

Trump now has no firm ‘deadline’ for peace

“We’re in final stages of talking,” Mr Trump wrote on social media after his chat with Putin, but before he hosted Mr Zelensky.

“It will either end, or it’s going to go on for a long time, and millions of additional people are going to be killed. Nobody wants that.”

The American and Ukrainian leaders briefly took questions from reporters before entering Mar-a-Lago for their talks.

Mr Trump chafed at one journalist, who asked whether he was “prepared to sign security documents today”.

“Well it depends on what the security agreements - what a dumb question,” he said.

“Nobody even knows what the security agreement is going to say.

“But there will be a security agreement, it’ll be a strong agreement, and the European nations are very much involved. They will be involved in protection, etcetera.”

Another reporter asked about deadlines.

“I don’t have deadlines. You know what my deadline is? Getting the war ended,” he replied.

“We don’t have deadlines. You agree with that?” Mr Trump added, turning to Mr Zelensky, who offered a few words of affirmation.

Mr Trump famously said dozens of times, during last year’s election campaign, that he’d be able to end the war between Russia and Ukraine on day one of his presidency. A few months in, he started to claim those pledges were made in jest.

On May 28, he suggested it would be clear “within two weeks” whether Putin was seriously interested in ending the war.

On July 14, he set a 50-day deadline for Russia to reach a peace agreement, threatening to impose “very severe” tariffs and sanctions if it failed to comply.

On July 28, Mr Trump cut that deadline to just “10-12 days”, saying he was “very disappointed” in Putin.

Just before the date passed, he announced his meeting with Putin in Alaska. It yielded no substantive progress. The deadline passed without sanction.

The President told the media pack, today, that he thinks both Mr Zelensky and Putin are genuinely serious about reaching a deal.

“I do. I think he is. I think they both are,” said Mr Trump.

“I do believe we have the makings of a deal ... we’re going to get it done.”

“Some are saying that the recent attacks in the past couple of days that Russia staged against Ukraine shows that Putin isn’t serious about peace,” a reporter put to him.

“Well, he’s very serious,” Mr Trump said.

“I believe Ukraine has made some very strong attacks also. And I don’t say that negatively. I think you probably have to. I don’t say that negatively.

“But there have been some explosions in various parts of Russia, and it looks to me like, I don’t know. I don’t think it came from the Congo. I don’t think it came from the US. It possibly came from Ukraine, but I haven’t asked that question.”

The pair then went inside to commence their negotiations.

Ukrainian capital still being bombarded

Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, expecting to conquer the entire country swiftly. Instead, Putin’s forces have been stymied, thanks to both Ukraine’s resistance and military aid from the United States, Europe and other nations.

Ukraine endured particularly heavy bombardment in the days leading up to Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky’s meeting, involving more than 2100 drone attacks, close to 800 guided aerial bombs and 94 missiles, according to Ukrainian officials.

On Saturday alone, Russia hammered Ukraine with 500 drone and 400 missile strikes, knocking out power in parts of the capital, Kyiv.

“Ukraine is willing to do whatever it takes to stop this war. For us, priority number one – or the only priority – is ending the war. For us, the priority is peace. We need to be strong at the negotiating table,” Mr Zelensky said ahead of the meeting.

Putin issued an ultimatum on Saturday implying he will carry on the horrific war until Ukraine surrenders to everything he’s demanded.

“If Ukraine does not want to resolve everything peacefully, Russia will resolve all its objectives by military means,” he said, according to a translation.

The Russians have demanded that Ukraine cede swathes of its territory in the east, including some areas Putin’s forces don’t even occupy.

Ukraine has been reluctant to give up any territory not alread lost, and sees the slice of strategically important land it still retains in the Donbas as critical to its national security. The fear is that without it, Russia could have an easier time cutting deeper into its smaller neighbor in a future attack.

Mr Zelensky has noted that he would need to hold a referendum to cede any land due to his country’s constitution.

Ukrainian negotiators have met with Mr Trump’s team for weeks and helped transform a strikingly Russia-friendly 28-point peace plan, proposed by the US, into a more equitable 20-point plan.

Mr Zelensky told reporters late last week that the 20-point plan was 90 per cent finished, but a handful of questions remained unresolved. And Russia, of course, has agreed to none of it.

The revised peace plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, would stop the war along its current front lines and could require Ukraine to pull troops back from the east, allowing the creation of demilitarised buffer zones.

Before landing in Florida, Mr Zelensky made a stopover in Canada, during which he held a conference call with European allies, who pledged their full support for his peace efforts and vowed to maintain pressure on Putin.

The Ukrainian leader said he hoped the talks in Florida would be “very constructive”, and suggested Mr Putin had shown his hand with the drone and missile assault on Kyiv.

“This attack is again Russia’s answer on our peace efforts. And this really showed that Putin doesn’t want peace,” he said.

He also told reporters that he would press Mr Trump on the importance of providing security guarantees that would prevent any renewed Russian aggression if a ceasefire were secured.

- with AFP