United States President Donald Trump said he plans to hold fresh peace talks about the war in Ukraine days after his Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to achieve a breakthrough.
Trump has become frustrated with his inability to stop the fighting, which began with Russia’s invasion in 2022, after he predicted he would be able to quickly end the war when he entered the White House in January.
According to the White House, Trump is expected to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the phone later on Thursday.
The French presidency added that several European leaders, including Zelenskyy and France’s Emmanuel Macron, would call Trump later that day.
The call is expected to follow a virtual meeting of around 30 countries hosted by France on security support for Ukraine once a peace deal with Russia is reached. The leaders are also expected to criticise Moscow’s refusal to engage in negotiations.
Putin has shown little interest in peace deals even after he and Trump expressed optimism about making progress during their meeting in Anchorage on 16 August.
"I have no message to President Putin," Trump told reporters at the White House as he met Polish President Karol Nawrocki.
"He knows where I stand and he'll make a decision one way or another. Whatever his decision is, we'll either be happy about it or unhappy about it and if we're unhappy about it, you'll see things happen," he said.
Trump has suggested the idea of imposing more sanctions on Russia but hasn’t expanded on what those may be.
