WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Donald Trump has grown 鈥渇rustrated" with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the White House said Monday ahead of separate calls Trump is holding in hopes of making progress toward a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.
Trump expressed his hopes for a 鈥減roductive day鈥 Monday 鈥 and a ceasefire 鈥 in a social media post over the weekend. His effort will also include calls to NATO leaders. But ahead of the call, Vice President JD Vance said Trump is 鈥渕ore than open鈥 to walking away from trying to end the war if he feels Putin isn't serious about negotiation.
The call was underway shortly after 10 a.m., press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, promising additional details after it concludes. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the conversation 鈥渋mportant, given the talks that took place in Istanbul鈥 last week between Russian and Ukrainian officials, the first such negotiations since March 2022.
Trump has struggled to end a war that began with Russia鈥檚 invasion in February 2022, and that makes these conversations a serious test of his reputation as a deal maker after having claimed he would once he was back in the White House, if not even before he took office.
鈥淗e鈥檚 grown weary and frustrated with both sides of the conflict,鈥 White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday ahead of the call. 鈥淗e has made it clear to both sides that he wants to see a peaceful resolution and ceasefire as soon as possible.鈥
The Republican president is banking on the idea that his force of personality and personal history with Putin will be enough to break any impasse over a pause in the fighting.
鈥淚鈥檇 say we鈥檙e more than open to walking away,鈥 Vance told reporters before leaving Rome after meeting with Pope Leo XIV. Vance said Trump has been clear that the U.S. 鈥渋s not going to spin its wheels here. We want to see outcomes.鈥
Trump's 鈥渟ensibilities are that he鈥檚 got to get on the phone with President Putin, and that is going to clear up some of the logjam and get us to the place that we need to get to,鈥 said Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 going to be a very successful call.鈥
Trump's frustration builds over failure to end war
Still, there are fears that Trump has an affinity for Putin that could put Ukraine at a disadvantage with any agreements engineered by the U.S. government.
said she resigned last month as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine "because the policy since the beginning of the administration was to put pressure on the victim Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor, Russia.鈥
Brink said the sign that she needed to depart was an Oval Office meeting in February where for not being sufficiently deferential to them.
鈥淚 believe that peace at any price is not peace at all,鈥 Brink said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 appeasement, and as we know from history, appeasement only leads to more war.鈥
Trump's frustration about the war had been building before his post Saturday on Truth Social about the coming calls.
Trump said his discussion with Putin would focus on stopping the 鈥渂loodbath鈥 of the war. It also will cover trade, a sign that Trump might be seeking to use financial incentives to broker some kind of agreement after Russia's invasion led to severe sanctions by the United States and
its allies that have steadily eroded Moscow's ability to grow.
Trump's hope, according to the post, is that 鈥渁 war that should have never happened will end.鈥
Vance said Trump would press Putin on whether he was serious about negotiating an end to the conflict, saying Trump doesn鈥檛 believe he is and that Trump may wash his hands of trying to end the war.
鈥淚t takes two to tango,鈥 Vance said, adding that 鈥渋f Russia is not willing to do that, then we鈥檙e eventually just going to have to say, this is not our war. It鈥檚 Joe Biden鈥檚 war, it鈥檚 Vladimir Putin鈥檚 war."
His treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said Sunday on NBC's 鈥淢eet the Press鈥 that Trump had made it clear that a failure by Putin to negotiate 鈥渋n good faith鈥 could lead to additional sanctions against Russia.
Bessent suggested the sanctions that began during the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden were inadequate because they did not stop Russia's oil revenues, due to concerns that doing so would increase U.S. prices. The United States sought to cap Russia's oil revenues while preserving the country's petroleum exports to limit the damage from the inflation that the war produced.
No ceasefire but an exchange of prisoners
Putin recently rejected an offer by Zelenskyy to as an alternative to a 30-day ceasefire urged by Ukraine and its Western allies, including Washington.
Those talks ended Friday after less than two hours, without a ceasefire in place. Still, both countries committed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, with Ukraine鈥檚 intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, saying on Ukrainian television Saturday that the exchanges could happen as early as this week.
While wrapping up his four-day trip to the Middle East, Trump that Putin had not gone to Turkey because Trump himself wasn't there.
鈥淗e and I will meet, and I think we鈥檒l solve it or maybe not,鈥 Trump told reporters after boarding Air Force One. 鈥淎t least we鈥檒l know. And if we don鈥檛 solve it, it鈥檒l be very interesting.鈥
Zelenskyy met with Trump's vice president, JD Vance, and top diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in Rome on Sunday, as well as European leaders, intensifying his efforts before the Monday calls.
The Ukrainian president said on the social media site X that during his talks with the American officials, they discussed the negotiations in Turkey and that 鈥渢he Russians sent a low level delegation of non-decision-makers.鈥 He also said he stressed that Ukraine is engaged in 鈥漴eal diplomacy鈥 to have a ceasefire.
鈥淲e have also touched upon the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, battlefield situation and upcoming prisoners exchange,鈥 Zelenskyy said. 鈥淧ressure is needed against Russia until they are eager to stop the war.鈥
The German government said Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French, British and Italian leaders spoke with Trump late Sunday about the situation in Ukraine and his upcoming call with Putin. A brief statement gave no details of the conversation, but said the plan is for the exchange to be continued directly after the Trump-Putin call.
In a post on X about the conversation, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Putin on Monday 鈥渕ust show he wants peace by accepting the 30-day unconditional ceasefire proposed by President Trump and backed by Ukraine and Europe.鈥
The push came as the Kremlin launched its largest drone barrage against Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, firing a total of 273 exploding drones and decoys, Ukraine鈥檚 air force said Sunday. The attacks targeted the country鈥檚 Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions.
Witkoff spoke Sunday on ABC's 鈥淭his Week鈥 and Brink appeared on CBS' 鈥淔ace the Nation.鈥
