Putin’s Trick To Try And Derail Zelenskyy’s Trump Meeting

Vladimir Putin managed to squeeze in a phone call with Donald Trump moments before the US president welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Florida on Sunday.

Trump was hosting the Ukrainian president for a new round of peace negotiations at his Mar-a-Lago property.

It comes after the last US plan for ending the Ukraine war was criticised for being too pro-Russia and rewarding Moscow for initiating the war.

But Sunday’s meeting looked like it was facing the same risks, as Trump wrote on TruthSocial: “I just had a good and very productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia prior to my meeting, at 1:00 P.M. today, with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine.”

As the Financial Times’ Moscow bureau chief, Max Seddon, said on X: “The last time Zelenskyy visited the US, Putin scheduled a call with Trump the day before.

“It helped turn what Ukraine thought would be a triumphant summit into a disaster.”

Back in October, media reports suggested Zelenskyy’s White House meeting with Trump became a “shouting match” as the States tried to force Ukraine to accept Russia’s terms to end the war.

Seddon added: “Now, ahead of Zelenskyy’s meeting with Trump in Miami today, Putin has repeated the trick…”

Indeed, in his joint press conference with Zelenskyy on Sunday, Trump claimed: “Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed.

“President Putin was very generous in his feeling towards Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy… at very low prices.”

The US president was evidently overlooking how the Russian president is the one who ordered the invasion of Ukraine back in February 2022, and how he could end the war instantly by withdrawing his troops.

Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov later said that phone call had been initiated by Trump.

He claimed the US president agreed with Russia that a ceasefire in Ukraine would drag out the conflict and risk the renewal of hostilities further down the line.

Putin and Trump were also set to speak again after the Zelenskyy meeting, according to Ushakov, although it’s unclear if that conversation did go ahead.