The Trump administration appears to be losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin, even as President Trump offers a face-to-face meeting in an effort to end the Ukraine war.
Trump this week flirted with traveling to Turkey to meet with Putin on the sidelines of talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials, but the Kremlin, just before negotiations were expected to kick off, said the Russian president would not be attending and instead sent lower-level officials.
That led Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in Turkey for meetings about European support for Ukraine, to skip the talks. Rubio later suggested that a Trump-Putin meeting was the “only way” to end the war, a statement that seemed to raise the stakes and signal U.S. displeasure with Putin’s foot-dragging.
The Russian leader says he ultimately wants the promise of a better U.S. relationship but has shown little willingness to offer any concessions when it comes to Ukraine.
Trump, on the other hand, is critical of U.S. military support for Ukraine and wants to get into business with Russia. And the president views the war as needlessly destructive to both people and property.
“Vladimir, STOP!” Trump wrote on Truth Social after a Russian strike in Kyiv last month killed a dozen civilians and wounded scores more.
Still, Putin has continuously rebuffed Trump’s calls for a ceasefire.
“We have to meet,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, following Putin’s latest rejections. “He and I will meet, I think we’ll solve it, or maybe not. But at least we’ll know. And if we don’t solve it, it will be very interesting.”
The president’s last-ditch effort to secure a meeting is risky, with foreign policy experts pointing to Trump’s history of taking Putin’s side, which stems back to his first administration.
In 2018, Trump endorsed Putin’s denials that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections, brushing aside findings from the U.S. intelligence community after meeting with him.
“President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said at a joint press conference at the time. Later, in a social media post, he wrote “that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past – as the world’s two largest nuclear powers, we must get along!”
Today, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has headed U.S. talks with two European countries, has even returned from meetings with Putin repeating Kremlin talking points, CNN reported earlier this year.
“It is clear to most observers that Putin is not interested in serious negotiations or a ceasefire,” said Maria Snegovaya, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia with the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
“If anything, such a meeting would only embolden Putin, as it would signal an end to his diplomatic isolation without requiring him to make any concessions,” she continued.
And Ukrainians are worried about being sidelined from talks
“We highly appreciate all efforts from our partners in the peace process. But it is very important for us to be a member of any negotiations and all conditions must be justified and in the framework of our Constitution,” Lesia Zaburranna, a Ukrainian member of parliament in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s party, wrote in a text to The Hill.
“I’m sure that Putin doesn’t want peace. He is a very cunning and mean person. And only the strong position of Trump, his power could change the situation,” she added.
Ukrainian and Russian officials held direct talks in Istanbul on Friday for the first time in years. The two sides agreed to an exchange of 1,000 prisoners of war, said they would write down each sides conditions for a ceasefire and committed to future talks, Turkey’s foreign minister said in a post on the social media platform X.
But Ukrainians still fear what might result from a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin.
One of Ukraine’s primary concerns is whether Trump will recognize Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. According to a draft U.S. proposal on ending the war, reported by Reuters last month, the U.S. would offer de jure recognition of five areas that Moscow fully and partially occupies.
This includes Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed in 2014, the eastern territories of Donetsk and Luhansk, and the southern provinces of Zhaporzhzhia and Kherson, which Russia partially controls.
Other possible concessions listed in the U.S. draft proposal for peace include barring Ukraine from joining NATO — one of Putin’s red lines and a fraught issue for Kyiv, which views support from the alliance as a critical security guarantee.
The draft also proposes the removal of the sanctions first imposed on Russia in 2014, and it offers cooperation with Russia on energy and other industrial sectors.
European leaders and Ukraine have rejected the terms, provided a counter proposal and even carried out a charm offensive to try to keep Trump on their side.
Zelensky, sitting with the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and the U.K. held a phone call with Trump on Friday, urging unity to force Putin to end the war.
“Ukraine is ready to take the fastest possible steps to bring real peace, and it is important that the world holds a strong stance,” Zelensky said in a statement on the social media platform X, alongside a photo of him huddled with all four leaders.
“Our position — if the Russians reject a full and unconditional ceasefire and an end to killings, tough sanctions must follow,” he wrote. “Pressure on Russia must be maintained until Russia is ready to end the war.”
Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president, suggested on Thursday that a meeting between Trump and Putin is imminent.
“Deals are all about timing, when the time is right, that is when the president is in the room with Putin. My expectation is imminently,” he said, speaking at the Politico National Security Summit in Washington.
Snegovaya said the promise of sanctions relief is not likely to push Putin toward concessions because the Russian economy has adapted to the punishment. She said an upcoming report by CSIS will show how the prospect of removing the penalties may upset businesses.
“Many businesses are now wary of losing their adapted business models if sanctions were lifted. This reinforces the case that tightening sanctions, not easing them, is the only viable path to influencing the Kremlin’s strategic calculations,” she said.
Ukraine’s Republican supporters on Capitol Hill are anxiously waiting for Trump’s directive, with the president’s staunchest allies tabling a bipartisan sanctions package against Moscow to provide space to negotiate.
“I think in the middle of a negotiation right now that would be premature,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday about sanctions, speaking at Politico’s summit.
“I think it’s on the table, absolutely, if they don’t reach some agreement,” he added. “I think all of that should be on the table.”
A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune told The Hill earlier this week that there were no scheduling announcements, when asked about the possibility of a sanctions bill to be brought to the floor.
The bill is sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) with 70 supporters.
Ukraine’s GOP allies in Congress are stoking Trump’s impatience with Putin, pointing to the Russian leader as the obstacle to peace.
“Putin has disrespected the U.S. and the goodwill of our President,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) posted on X.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chair emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he backs the House version of the Graham-Blumenthal bill and called for Trump to — on top of sanctions — increase weapons shipments to Ukraine using funds already appropriated from the April 2024 supplemental package.
“There’s a presidential drawdown authority from the wartime bill that I passed, that’s still available to send more weapons in,” he said speaking at the Politico summit.
About $20 billion in undisbursed funds remains, according to government data.
“So I think it’d be a combination of sanctions and more weapons to get him to a place where he’ll negotiate in good faith,” McCaul said.
Snegovaya agreed.
“At this point, the U.S. has offered Putin plenty of carrots,” she said. “It is long overdue for the sticks: tougher sanctions and clear promises of future lethal aid to Ukraine.”
