Trump-Zelensky phone call ‘wasn’t easy’

(MENAFN) The phone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky following Friday’s Alaska summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin “wasn’t easy,” Axios correspondent Barak Ravid reported Saturday, citing a source familiar with the exchange.

According to Ravid, Trump and Zelensky spoke for about an hour before Western European leaders joined the call. Also present were US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff, both of whom had taken part in the earlier negotiations with Russia.

Leaders from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, Poland, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were later added to the line for roughly 30 minutes, during which Trump briefed them on the summit.

Ravid described the call as “not easy” without providing further detail, though he noted that Trump stressed a “fast peace deal” was preferable to a ceasefire. The president later reiterated that position publicly, writing that a lasting peace agreement is needed to end the war, as ceasefires “often do not hold up.”

Zelensky confirmed that he and Trump agreed during the call that he would travel to Washington on Monday to discuss the summit results face-to-face.

While Kiev and its European allies continue to push for a temporary ceasefire, Moscow has argued that such a pause would only allow Ukraine to regroup, mobilize more troops, and acquire additional Western arms while Russian forces maintain battlefield momentum.

Both Trump and Putin described the Alaska meeting as productive, with Trump saying the two sides had moved closer to a settlement and urging Zelensky to “make a deal.”

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