Trump admits for first time that putin does not want to end war, because he is confident of victory — WSJ

US President Donald Trump, during a conversation with European leaders on May 19, stated for the first time that russian ruler vladimir putin does not want to end the war, because he believes that he is in a position of strength.

This is reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing three informed interlocutors.

This statement, according to sources, confirmed the long-standing fears of European leaders about putin's intentions, although Trump had previously repeatedly publicly assured that the kremlin leader "sincerely wants peace."

Despite this admission, Trump did not support calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European partners to increase pressure on moscow. Although the day before, on Sunday, he discussed the possibility of imposing sanctions against russia in the event of its refusal to cease fire, the very next day this idea lost relevance for him.

"This is not my war. We got involved in something we shouldn't have been involved in," Trump told reporters after his conversation with putin.

According to the WSJ, although the discussion did not lead to any concrete steps, it was an important signal for European leaders: putin has no intention of stopping the fighting, and support for Ukraine will likely remain on Europe's shoulders. At the same time, the EU believes that the US will not stop supplying weapons if Ukraine or European countries pay for them.

In addition, during a Sunday conversation with Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, Georgia Meloni and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump announced that he would send Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Keith Kellogg to the upcoming talks in the Vatican. In the same conversation, he did not rule out the possibility of sanctions against the russian energy and financial system, but the next day he backed away from this position.

European leaders have insisted that any peace initiative must include an unconditional ceasefire. But Trump has refused to support this demand, explaining that he does not like the word "unconditional." He had already used the term in a May 8 post on Truth Social calling for a 30-day ceasefire.