Zelensky denies Trump prioritised speaking to Putin before him

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied that US President Donald Trump prioritised speaking to Vladimir Putin before him when making two calls on Wednesday with a view to kickstarting peace talks, but told Ukraine’s Radio Svoboda that it “wasn’t very pleasant” on Thursday.

Zelensky said that Kyiv considered face-to-face meetings to be “a priority” and reiterated his hope that Trump would first meet with Ukrainian officials to “come up with a plan to stop Putin”, only after which would he consider it fair to “talk to the Russians”.

Zelensky also said that during his call with Trump on Wednesday, the US president told him he hoped to speak with both leaders at the same time and “did not say” that he prioritised contacts with either Putin or Russia. “We’ll believe those words for today,” Zelensky said.

Stressing that there could be no talks about Ukraine without Ukraine, Zelensky also said it was important to include Kyiv’s European partners in any negotiations. “We are part of Europe, and they have helped a lot,” Zelensky said.

Trump called Zelensky on Wednesday shortly after holding his first confirmed phone call with Vladimir Putin since his return to the White House last month. Trump said that he and Putin had agreed to “work together, very closely” to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.

The conversation with Zelensky also “went very well”, Trump said on Truth Social on Wednesday, while Zelensky thanked Trump for his “genuine interest” in ways for Washington and Kyiv to work together “to bring real peace closer” and said that Kyiv believed “America’s strength” was “sufficient to pressure Russia and Putin into peace”.

Nevertheless, the extent of Kyiv’s involvement in any Trump-brokered peace negotiations remains unclear, despite Trump announcing that US Vice President J.D. Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would meet with Ukrainian officials at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.