Trump: Putin Refuses Meeting With Zelenskiy Over Personal Dislike

TDT | Manama

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US President Donald Trump said he recently spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and believes that personal tensions are preventing progress in peace talks with Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office on Monday, Trump claimed Putin’s dislike of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is standing in the way of a potential meeting.
“He doesn’t like him,” Trump said. “I have people I don’t like, I don’t like to meet with them.”

Trump was asked if he had spoken to Putin since last week, when he called him after meeting European leaders, including Zelenskiy, to propose a peace summit. The White House has suggested that Putin agreed in principle to meet Zelenskiy, but the Kremlin has not confirmed, and no summit has been scheduled.

When asked about the latest call, the White House declined to provide details. Trump said, “Every conversation I have with him is a good conversation. And then, unfortunately, a bomb is loaded up into Kyiv or someplace, and then I get very angry about it.”

Despite the challenges, Trump expressed hope that progress could be made. “We’re going to get the war done,” he said, adding that he also discussed nuclear arms control with Putin. “We would like to denuclearize. It’s too much power, and we talked about that also. That’s part of it, but we have to get the war over.”

Meanwhile, Zelenskiy said last week that Ukraine, the United States, and European partners are working on new security guarantees. He expects details to be announced “in the coming days.”