Trump Says Russia-Ukraine Resolution 'Getting Closer Than People Realize' Ahead of NATO Ankara Talks

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump said that an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine is nearer than most people think. "We're getting much closer than people realize," he said, adding that Vladimir Putin wants the fighting to stop and that he would say so "very strongly." He said Volodymyr Zelenskyy, too, wants it over now, and that he expects the matter to be taken up at the NATO summit in Ankara. "I think we're going to get it ended," he said, calling the war a terrible situation.

The remarks follow a call Trump says he had with Putin on the Fourth of July. He described it as a good conversation. A Kremlin aide put its length at 85 minutes and said Trump used it to offer help in finding a path toward peace.

The next step is scheduled for Wednesday, when Trump is due to meet Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Ankara summit. A U.S. official said the purpose of the talks is to make a renewed push to end the war. The same official said Trump would likely follow up with Putin after speaking with Zelenskyy.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin and Trump had agreed to keep in contact "in the near future." He also pushed back on the idea that Trump's views shift with the wind. Reports that Trump changes position like a weather vane, Peskov said, are untrue. In his telling, Trump has a fairly consistent stance, is confident in his understanding of events, and, most importantly, is open to hearing the information Putin conveys to him.

Zelenskyy offered a different reading of what has changed. In an interview with the Financial Times, he called his own weekend phone call with Trump "very good." He said Trump told him Ukraine is doing very well with its long-range drone campaign against Russian oil industry targets, a campaign that has produced fuel shortages inside Russia. Asked whether those successes might be enough to bring Trump firmly to Ukraine's side, Zelenskyy said he believed the American president was seeing the conflict in a new light.

"President Trump wants to be where there's success," the newspaper quoted him as saying. He tied that to several things: Trump's personality, the approaching U.S. midterm elections, Trump's status, and his belief about how the war can be ended.

The relationship has a difficult recent history. An Oval Office encounter between the two men last year descended into a shouting match. Since then Zelenskyy has worked to repair ties through a series of meetings.

Trump's latest comments did not mention his earlier call for Zelenskyy to move quickly toward a deal with Russia, a call in which he said Ukraine lacked "the cards" for negotiations. What to watch now is Wednesday's meeting in Ankara, and whether Trump then calls Putin, as the U.S. official indicated he would.