Hot mic catches Trump’s extremely telling comment about Putin during Zelenskyy meeting
Donald Trump has implied that Vladimir Putin is more willing than ever to make a deal regarding Ukraine after their meeting in Alaska.
Trump met with Putin last Friday (August 15) to discuss ending the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine after more than three years of conflict.
During the meeting, the Russian leader issued a reminder of the so-called 'big mistake' that could have prevented the war in the first place.
"I'd like to remind you that in 2022, during the last contact with the previous administration, I tried to convince my previous American colleague that the situation should not be brought to the point of no return when it would come to hostilities," Putin said about Joe Biden.
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"I said it quite directly back then that it's a big mistake," he went on. "Today, when President Trump [said] that if he was the president back then, there would be no war. And I'm quite sure that it would indeed be so, I can confirm that."
A peace deal wasn't met on Friday but Trump left the meeting insisting that 'we have a very good chance of getting there'.
He's since echoed similar sentiments during a meeting with several European leaders yesterday (August 18) in a quiet remark made to what looked to be Emmanuel Macron, France's president.
In hot mic audio shared by CBS News, Trump says: "I think he wants to make a deal for me, as crazy as it sounds."
'He' is thought to be Putin.
Listen to the audio here:
All in all, it seems as if yesterday was a positive meeting - something which couldn't be said for President Zelenskyy's trip to the White House back in February.
Zelenskyy went on his own to Washington last time, but he had the likes of Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer with him yesterday.
Speaking after the meeting, Starmer (who has long voiced his support for Zelenskyy and Ukraine) said 'real progress' was made.
Starmer described the talks as 'good and constructive', adding: "There was a real sense of unity between the European leaders that were there, and President Trump and President Zelenskyy."
The UK prime minister highlighted 'two material outcomes' from the talks, firstly that the coalition of the willing 'will now work with the US' on security guarantees.
"That’s really important for security in Ukraine, for security in Europe, and for security in the UK," he said.
"The other material outcome was the agreement that there will now be a bilateral agreement between President Putin and President Zelenskyy, that was after a phone call between President Trump and President Putin during the course of this afternoon, followed by a trilateral which will then add in President Trump.
"That is a recognition of the principle that on some of these issues, whether it’s territory or the exchange of prisoners, or the very serious issue of the return of children, that is something where Ukraine must be at the table.
"These were the two outcomes that were the most important coming out of today. They’re positive outcomes, there was a real sense of unity. We’ve made real progress today."
Topics: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Politics, News, World News
Niamh Shackleton