Wait-and-see: Trump leaves Ukraine talks to Putin, Zelenskyy before any US role

US President Donald Trump is stepping back from direct involvement in efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, telling aides he wants to let Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet first without American mediation.

According to administration officials cited by The Guardian, Trump has decided not to directly involve himself in the next phase of peace negotiations. Instead, he wants the Russian and Ukrainian leaders to meet one-on-one before he steps in with a US-brokered summit.

"The next stage in Trump’s eyes to end the war in Ukraine remains a bilateral meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy," one official said. Whether that meeting will actually happen remains uncertain.

"I just want to see what happens at the meeting," Trump said in an interview with conservative radio host Mark Levin on WABC. "So they’re in the process of setting it up and we’re going to see what happens."

Officials told The Guardian the president has even instructed advisers that any trilateral summit involving himself will come after Putin and Zelenskyy have sat down together. The strategy marks a contrast from Trump’s campaign-era promises of quick breakthroughs, reflecting what one insider described as a "wait-and-see approach."

US REASSURES EUROPE ON ROLE IN UKRAINE

Meanwhile, the Pentagon is working to reassure Europe that America’s military role in any future Ukraine security deal will be limited. Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary of defence for policy, joined European military leaders this week to underline that point.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said Colby’s message was clear: he was there "to relay President Trump’s and Secretary Hegseth’s guidance related to security guarantees for Ukraine" and to "ensure the discussion reflected President Trump’s statements on the matter."

Earlier Tuesday, Trump himself made it clear that US troops will not be sent to Ukraine as part of any potential deal to end Russia’s war. “You have my assurance, and I’m president,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News, following hours of discussions at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders.

Trump, who had suggested a day earlier that US participation in a European-led security mission was not entirely off the table, drew a firm line.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin is demanding Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, according to news agency Reuters.

The Russian president met Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday for the first Russia-US summit in more than four years and spent almost all of their three-hour closed meeting discussing what a compromise on Ukraine might look like.

- Ends

With inputs from agencies

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