President Donald Trump says he’ll be meeting President Vladimir Putin “pretty soon,” but not before heading straight back to Washington from his current trip in the Middle East, where he’s been visiting allies.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump confirmed he won’t be making a last-minute detour to Turkey, even though both Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy were rumored to be showing up for peace talks there.
Trump said he had considered attending if Putin had confirmed, but once it became clear that the Russian president wasn’t going, he chose not to bother either.
According to Bloomberg, Trump explained his decision by pointing to a personal reason: “I want to see my grandson,” he said. His daughter, Tiffany Trump, had just given birth to a baby boy, and Trump made it clear that family comes first.
That said, the president insisted a meeting with Putin is still in the works and will happen “as soon as we can set it up.” He was clear that he views his physical presence as a deal-breaker for these talks.
“They all said Putin was going, Zelenskyy was going, and I said if I don’t go, I guarantee Putin’s not going,” Trump said. “And he didn’t go. I understand that. We’re going to get it — we’re going to get it done.”
Zelenskyy and Putin avoid direct meetings in Turkey
Talks between Russia and Ukraine did happen in Istanbul but without either leader present. Instead of going himself, Putin sent a group of mid-level negotiators.
Trump had previously hinted that he might go to Turkey for a face-to-face with both Putin and Zelenskyy, but those plans were dropped after Putin backed out. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy also chose not to attend, signaling he only wanted to sit down with someone who could actually make decisions.
The negotiations in Turkey were the first direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in over three years. Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s top priority at the meeting was to get an unconditional ceasefire in place. That would be the starting point for broader peace discussions.
Over in Tirana, leaders from across Europe were gathered for the European Political Community Summit. Zelenskyy addressed the crowd remotely and said again that he’s ready to meet with Putin himself — but only if Putin takes the process seriously. So far, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
EU prepares more sanctions, calls on U.S. for support
While Trump keeps working on arranging a meeting with his former buddy, the European Union is preparing another package of sanctions against Russia.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said on Friday that Europe has no choice but to apply more pressure. “He does not want peace,” she said about Putin, “so we have to increase the pressure.”
This will be the 18th sanctions package since the war began. But getting all 27 EU members to agree on new penalties isn’t easy. Diplomats have admitted it’s getting harder every time to reach a full consensus.
That’s part of why the U.S. role is still seen as essential. European officials have stressed that sanctions won’t be fully effective without American backing.
Von der Leyen said the main targets in the new package would include a ban on Nord Stream, expanded shadow fleet blacklists, a lower price cap on Russian crude oil, and more penalties against Russian banks.
The Nord Stream pipelines, built by Gazprom, were bombed in 2022, cutting off a major energy route from Russia to Germany. Even though they’re already out of commission, banning them outright is meant to block any future revival or workaround.
While speaking at the summit in Albania, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told other leaders, “What we saw yesterday and overnight is yet more evidence that Putin is not serious about peace.”
He added that if Putin continues stalling and refusing to send high-ranking officials to the table, more coordinated sanctions will be necessary. “We’ll be working on that again today,” he said, “to be clear that there must be a ceasefire, but also to be clear that should there not be a ceasefire, then we will act together in relation to sanctions.”
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