Trump maintains end-the-Ukraine-war talk, but Putin doesn't confirm the details
Claims Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine
U.S. President Donald Trump continues to plow ahead with statements that he wants to end the war in Ukraine, though it's not clear that his Russian counterpart is on the same page as to how that could happen.
"It's time to end this bloodletting and restore peace, and I think we're going to do it," Trump said Monday.
Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House to discuss the war in Ukraine, a move that comes as the country marks three years of all-out conflict with Russia.
While speaking to reporters during Macron's visit, Trump said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of a potential deal to end the war, noting he had asked the Russian leader that question.
Yet Putin said Monday he has not discussed resolving the conflict in Ukraine in detail with Trump, and neither did Russian and American negotiating teams when they met last week in Saudi Arabia.
In remarks broadcast on state television, Putin also said Russia has not ruled out European countries participating in a peace settlement.
Putin and senior Russian officials had previously indicated they will not accept Western forces in Ukraine.
Trump and Putin spoke for more than a hour earlier this month. That conversation preceded the talks that occurred in Saudi Arabia. Ukraine was left on the outside looking in.
Ending war is in Russia's interest: Trump
Back in Washington, Trump was asked by a reporter why he believes he can trust Putin to negotiate on Ukraine.
The U.S. president said he believed it was in Russia's benefit to "make a deal" to bring the war to an end.
"I really believe that he wants to make a deal," Trump said, referring to Putin. "I may be wrong, but I believe he wants to make a deal."
Macron, at a joint news conference with Trump following their meeting, said their talks were productive and acknowledged that European nations must do more to bolster defence on the continent. But Macron also warned against capitulating to Russia.
″This peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine," Macron said. "It must not mean a ceasefire without guarantees. This peace must allow for Ukrainian sovereignty."
Ukraine has faced three years of all-out war since Russia launched its wide-ranging, full-scale invasion of its neighbour on Feb. 24, 2022. The war has since killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions of people, and upended daily life in Ukraine.
While Russia now controls nearly one-fifth of Ukraine, Moscow has failed to topple the government in Kyiv, despite three years of fighting.
U.S. splits with European allies at UN
At the United Nations, the U.S. split with its European allies by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in votes on three UN resolutions on Monday.
In the UN General Assembly, the U.S. joined Russia in voting against a Europe-backed Ukrainian resolution that calls out Moscow's aggression and demands an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops.
The U.S. then abstained from voting on its own competing resolution after Europeans — led by France — succeeded in amending it to make clear Russia was the aggressor. The voting was taking place as Trump was hosting Macron in Washington.
The U.S. then pushed for a vote on its original draft in the more powerful UN Security Council, where resolutions are legally binding and it has veto power along with Russia, China, Britain and France. The vote in the 15-member council was 10-0 with five countries abstaining, all from Europe.
'Very close' on minerals deal
Also Monday, Trump signalled that he believed that the U.S. and Ukraine were close to an agreement on resources that would provide the U.S. access to Ukraine's rare-earth minerals.
"It looks like we're getting very close," Trump told reporters at the start of his bilateral meeting with Macron.
He said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could potentially visit Washington this week or next to sign the deal.
The Trump administration has pressed Ukraine to agree to the minerals deal, with the president saying he wants "equalization" for the support Washington has given to Kyiv amid its fight with Russia. Trump had suggested he wanted to see the U.S. paid somewhere in the neighbourhood of $500 billion US via such an arrangement.
But Zelenskyy and Ukrainian officials have so far declined to sign off on a proposal brought forward by U.S. officials. Members of the Trump administration have signalled this is a source of frustration for the U.S. president.
Ukraine is also looking for future security guarantees as part of any agreement, but Trump did not say whether the emerging deal would include such guarantees.
"Europe is going to make sure nothing happens," Trump said.
Zelenskyy met with 13 Western leaders — including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — in Kyiv on Monday, where they gathered for a summit on peace and security for Ukraine. There was no sign of U.S. representation.
U.S. support for Ukraine has been vitally important up to this point in the war. But Trump has made sharply critical comments about both Ukraine and Zelenskyy, comments that have been slammed by other leaders and observers.
Former U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson said recent words from Trump, including a suggestion that Ukraine started the war and that its president was a "dictator," amounted to "the most-egregious piece of victim-blaming I've ever seen."
"To say that Ukraine started the war is nauseating, it is pure Kremlin propaganda," he told the Telegraph newspaper's Ukraine: The Latest podcast.
With files from CBC News and Reuters