Russia’s Medvedev says ‘Coalition of the Willing’ failed to outplay Trump as ceasefire still off the table
Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, and Former President Dmitry Medvedev, said on Tuesday that the European leaders failed to “outplay” US President Donald Trump, according to TASS news agency.
President Donald Trump held an extraordinary summit on Monday at the White House, where he hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a group of European allies following his meeting on Friday in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The anti-Russian warmongering Coalition of the Willing failed to outplay the US leader on his turf,” Medvedev said in English on X. “Europe thanked & sucked up to him.”
In an ironic comment, Medvedev said the question was “what tune” Zelenskiy would play “about guarantees & territories back home, once he’s put on his green military uniform again.”
Trump told Zelenskiy on Monday that the United States would help guarantee Ukraine’s security in any deal to end the war in Ukraine, though the extent of any assistance was not immediately clear.
In a social media post late on Monday, Trump said he had called the Russian leader and begun arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelenskiy, to be followed by a trilateral summit among the three presidents.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said in audio remarks on Telegram that Trump and Putin had discussed “the possibility of raising the level of representatives from the Ukrainian and Russian sides … participating in the mentioned direct negotiations.”
Meanwhile, European leaders urged Trump to insist that Putin agree to a ceasefire in the 3-1/2-year-old war before any talks can advance, according to Reuters.
The US President told reporters in the Oval Office that he liked the concept of a ceasefire but the two sides could work on a peace deal while the fighting continued.
“I wish they could stop, I’d like them to stop,” he said. “But strategically that could be a disadvantage for one side or the other.”
