Trump Cancels Putin Meeting, Calls It ‘Waste of Time’ Amid Ukraine War Tensions
Washington (The Uttam Hindu): Speculations surrounding the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have come to an end. Citing a lack of diplomatic progress, President Trump announced that he has canceled the proposed meeting with Putin.
Speaking to the media at the White House on Wednesday, Trump said, “We’ve canceled the meeting with President Putin. It didn’t feel right to me. I didn’t think we were at the level where we needed to be, so I decided to cancel it. But we’ll meet in the future.”
Last week, Trump had indicated that after a phone conversation with Putin, he planned to meet the Russian leader in Budapest, Hungary. However, the meeting was canceled following a phone call on Monday between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters at the White House that such a meeting would be “a waste of time.” He added, “Honestly, every time I talk to Vladimir, the conversation goes well, but nothing ever comes out of it.”
A week earlier, Trump and Putin had a two-and-a-half-hour-long phone call, which Trump described as showing “significant progress.” The very next day, he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House and called their discussion “very interesting and cordial.”
Regarding new sanctions on Russian oil exports, Trump said he hopes the measures will be temporary. Following the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, global hopes have risen for a potential end to the Russia-Ukraine war. Zelensky remarked that if the war in Gaza can pause, a ceasefire in Ukraine is also possible.
President Trump has been making continuous efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Since the start of his second term, he has repeatedly claimed that he would bring the war to an end soon after taking office. However, even after assuming office in January 2025, that goal has not yet been achieved.
As part of its latest sanctions, the U.S. has targeted Russia’s two largest oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil along with their subsidiaries. The U.S. Treasury Department warned that even stronger actions could follow if Moscow does not change its course.