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According to reports, European leaders were not present during the phone call between Trump and Putin.
The Kremlin has yet to confirm whether Putin has agreed to such direct talks with Zelenskyy (IMAGE: REUTERS)
US President Donald Trump described Monday’s diplomatic meetings as a “successful” day after hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several European leaders at the White House. However, the most unexpected development came during the Oval Office discussions, when Trump paused the meeting to place a call to Russian President Vladimir Putin, CNN reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.
The call came just days after Trump met with Putin in Alaska on August 15, where the two leaders  discussed the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Since he began his efforts for peace in Russia-Ukraine war, Trump has been pushing for a trilateral peace summit involving himself, Zelenskyy, and Putin. Monday’s meeting marked his latest effort toward that goal.
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According to the source, European leaders were not present during the phone call between Trump and Putin. The conversation reportedly lasted around 40 minutes, as later confirmed by a Kremlin aide quoted in an Al Jazeera report.
The first outlet to report on the mid-summit phone call was the German newspaper Bild, which stated that Trump informed the Russian President about the contents of the day’s discussions. The report mentioned that the talks with the European leaders would resume after Trump’s call to Putin.
Following the meeting at Oval Office, Trump took to Truth Social, writing that he had called the Russian President and “began the arrangements for a meeting” that would bring both Putin and Zelenskyy to the same table, under US mediation. However, Trump did not announce a specific date or location for this proposed trilateral summit.
The Kremlin has yet to confirm whether Putin has agreed to such direct talks with Zelenskyy. According to Al Jazeera, the two presidents discussed “raising the level of Russian and Ukrainian representation in the negotiations.” Putin reportedly also thanked Trump for hosting the Alaska summit, which was the first official US-Russia summit between sitting presidents since 2021.
The ongoing war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022 with Russia’s full-scale invasion, has resulted in widespread destruction and displacement. During the Monday meeting, the European leaders praised Trump’s efforts toward peace but urged him to reconsider his decision to stop pressing Putin for a ceasefire.
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Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
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