President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would soon speak with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, amid a stalemate in the president’s efforts to end Russia’s war in the European country and the frustration of the White House.
“I will talk to him very soon and know practically what we will do … I will talk to him in the next few days and we will see,” Trump told reporters during a meeting in the Oval Office with Polish President Karol Nawrocki.
The White House later clarified that the phone call between Trump and Zelensky was scheduled for Thursday, adding that there is currently no telephone conversation scheduled with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
When asked about his message to Putin, who was given repeated deadlines of two weeks, Trump said he had none, but offered a subtle warning.
I don’t have any message for President Putin. He knows my position and will make a decision, whatever. Whatever your decision, we will be happy or unhappy. And if we’re not happy, you’ll see how things happen,” he said.
Trump’s meeting with Poland’s president, a key ally of the United States and Ukraine’s neighbor, comes as Putin has been greeted on the world stage this week, when he attended China, along with some of the world’s most powerful authoritarian leaders, to a show of strength that Trump acknowledged on Wednesday that he had seen.
Right now, more than two weeks after Trump received Putin in Alaska and Zelensky and other European leaders to visit the White House, there is little sign of the meeting between Zelensky and Putin that the White House has been pushing. Trump is considering whether he should remain involved in negotiating a meeting, CNN reported. (Putin said on Wednesday he was willing to meet with Zelensky in Moscow, a proposal Kyiv quickly described as “unacceptable.”
Trump’s frustration came to light on Wednesday when he was questioned about his lack of action against Russia, lashing out at a Polish journalist and hinting at possible plans to put further pressure on Moscow.
How do you know no action is taken? Would you say that imposing secondary sanctions on India, the largest (oil) buyer, after China, is almost the same? Would you say no action is taken? That cost Russia hundreds of billions of dollars. You call that not taking action? “And I haven’t completed phase two or phase three,” Trump said.
The White House did not respond to CNN’s request for clarity on what a second or third phase could entail.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week that all options are on the table to impose new sanctions on Russia, but so far, the administration has been reluctant to take such a step.
Trump’s foreign envoy, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Paris on Wednesday ahead of a meeting of the Coalition of the Fed, a source familiar with the plans told CNN. However, it was not immediately clear whether he would attend the meeting of nations that have pledged support for Ukraine against Russia’s unprovoked invasion.
While this Friday is Trump’s last term for Putin after he suggested on August 22 that he would give the Russian leader a couple of weeks before possible consequences against Moscow, his plans are not much clearer now.
In a significant step that Trump has already taken to increase economic punishment for Russia, it provoked the ire of India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, by doubling tariffs on Indian imports to 50 percent, in an effort to stop the country from buying Russian oil.
Modi, in turn, sent a clear signal about the deteriorating state of U.S.-India relations this week when he participated in a major summit in China alongside President Xi Jinping, Putin, and others.
Xi’s show of strength, which included a military parade attended by North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, underscored his effort to position China as an alternative to what Beijing sees as Trump’s unpredictability and chaos and a Western-oriented global order.
Trump has been following the meeting very closely, and said in a message to Xi on social media Tuesday night: “Please convey my warmest greetings to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, as they plot against the United States of America.”
The president suggested Wednesday that the parade was, in part, designed for him to see, and that he had done so. “I understood the reason they did it, and they expected me to be watching, and I was doing it,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
Then he added, “My relationship with all of them is very good. We’ll find out how well it’s in a week or two.
Putin downplayed Trump’s conspiracy comments on Wednesday and replied that the statement shows that Trump has a sense of humor.
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