President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday that he isn’t surprised Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t personally attend peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey this week.
Trump pushed Putin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for peace talks — but Vlad ultimately brushed it off, sending aides in his place.
“Look, nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together. Okay?” Trump said aboard Air Force One when asked about the upcoming meeting.
“And obviously, he wasn’t going to go. He was going to go — but he thought I was going to go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there,” he continued.
“And I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”
Asked about Putin’s decision to send a second-tier team of aides in his place, Trump said: “I’m not disappointed in anything.”
“Why would I be disappointed? We just took in $4 trillion and he says ‘are you disappointed about a delegation?’” the president said, referring to business deals announced as part of his three-nation tour of the Middle East.
Watch Trump’s comments below:
After hyping the meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy and even saying he might attend it, Trump is now saying he knew both he and Putin were not going to be there. How long will he embarrass us like this?
Trump: "Nothing is gonna happen until Putin and I get together. Obviously… pic.twitter.com/fm3qRqlM68
— Ron Smith (@Ronxyz00) May 15, 2025
Trump made similar comments in Qatar earlier Wednesday.
Reporter: No Putin in Turkey. Disappointed?
Trump: No.. I actually said, why would he go if I'm not going? Because I wasn't going to go. I wasn't planning to go. I would go, but I wasn't planning to go. And I said, I don't think he's going to go if I don't go. And that's turned… pic.twitter.com/zQeVGrFXyb
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 15, 2025
