Did Trump pause White House talks with EU leaders midway to call Putin?

US President Donald Trump paused his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders at the White House to dial Russian President Vladimir Putin, said reports.

The news was first reported by German newspaper Bild , which said the US President would continue the talks after his call with Putin. Later, the CNN also confirmed this, but said the European leaders were not present for the conversation.

Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told the broadcaster that the call between Trump and the Russian leader was “candid and very constructive”. They talked for around 40 minutes and Trump apprised Putin of his dialogue with Zelenskyy and EU leaders that was still underway at the White House.

Ushakov said Putin had expressed support for direct negotiations between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine. He, however, stopped short of confirming whether Putin had agreed to a bilateral or trilateral meeting. 

“They discussed the idea of exploring the possibility of raising the level of representatives of Moscow and Kyiv at the talks,” Ushakov said. 

On Monday, days after his Alaska summit with Putin, the US President hosted Zelenskyy and top European leaders, including France's President Emmanuel Macron, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House to discuss his push to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

After the meeting, Trump wrote on social media that has begun arrangements for a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy to discuss a pathway to end the brutal war.

“I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” he said.

“After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years,” he added.

Zelenskyy had earlier said he wanted Russia to agree to a ceasefire before any meeting between himself and Putin. However, on Monday, he expressed his readiness for “unconditional talks”, saying if the Ukrainians started setting conditions, the Russians would do the same.

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