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The US president said Zelensky ‘has to make a deal’ and refused to criticise Putin for stalling peace talks
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Donald Trump has said that it “takes two to tango” as the prospect of talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war in Ukraine appeared to have reached a dead end.
Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One for a state visit to the UK, the US President said Zelensky “has to make a deal” and refused to blame Moscow for a failure to make progress in peace talks.
“It takes two to tango. Those are two people, Zelenskyy and Putin, that hate each other, and it looks like I have to sit in the room with them, because they can’t sit in a room together. There’s great hatred there,” he said.
After meeting with Putin in Alaska last month, Trump said he would press for the Russian president to meet Zelensky as a prelude to a trilateral summit. No talks have been scheduled between the two sides since and both leaders insist that the preconditions for such a meeting do not exist.
Earlier on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has hinted that President Trump and President Zelensky could meet in New York next week as the UN General Assembly gathers for its annual high-level session.
“I don’t want them purchasing Russian oil, and they’ve got to stop immediately,” he said during a state visit to the UK.
“Not fair to us. They’re purchasing Russian oil, and we have to do things.”
He added that Zelensky is “going to have to make a deal” to end the Russian military action in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin has said that 50,000 soldiers took part in war exercises on Russian territory with 7,000 in Belarus.
The countries took part in joint drills over the last week, which caused alarm among some of their neighbours.
He said that the aim of the war games were to “rehearse the defence of the Union State of Russia and Belarus”.
Canadian Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland is expected to leave the cabinet and take on a role as a special international envoy for Ukraine, the Globe and Mail newspaper has reported, citing sources.
Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent and speaks the language, has helped drive Canada’s hard-line approach to Russia.
Russia’s oil pipeline monopoly Transneft has warned producers they may have to cut output following Ukraine’s drone attacks on critical export ports and refineries.
Kyiv has stepped up attacks on Russian energy assets since August in a bid to reduce the Kremlin’s revenues to finance its war in Ukraine.
Transneft, which handles more than 80% of all the oil extracted in Russia, has in recent days restricted oil firms’ ability to store oil in its pipeline system, two industry sources close to Russian oil firms told Reuters.
Transneft has also warned producers it may have to accept less oil if its infrastructure sustains further damage, the two sources said.
New research has identified some 210 sites where Ukrainian children are believed to have been taken for military training by Russia.
The research, funded by the USA, found that the children also took part in drone manufacturing and other forced re-education as part of the large-scale deportation programme.
Yale’s School of Public Health said in the report that more than 150 new locations had been discovered since it published findings last year, In 2024, it alleged that Russian presidential aircraft had been used to transport children.
The Polish government will decide on submarine procurement this week, which will lead to the purchase of the first submarines by the end of the year, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said.
It comes as the country attempts to bolster its defences following the incursion of a Russian drone into Poland last week.
“The prime minister will launch the Orka program. We will adopt a resolution that commits to purchasing submarines by the end of this year. The bids have been reviewed, and now the Polish government will decide who will be the program’s partner, Tusk told journalists.
The Kremlin issued a sharp warning to Nato when it said the alliance was “fighting against Russia” and was “de facto involved” in the war in Ukraine.
“Nato is providing direct and indirect support to the Kyiv regime,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “It can be said with absolute certainty that Nato is fighting against Russia.”
Yet as Russia sends drones into Poland and Romania and organises drills with Belarus, experts say that Putin is testing Nato’s response through its more aggressive movements past Ukrainian borders.
Bryony Gooch reports:
Italy’s defence minister has said the country would not be ready for a Russian attack, as European countries remain unsettled following Russian activity in Polish and Romanian airspace this week.
“We are not ready for either a Russian attack or an attack by another nation,” Guido Crosetto told reporters.
“I’ve been saying this for a long time. I think it’s our job to put this country in a position to defend itself if a madman decides to attack us – I don’t just mean Putin, I mean anyone.”
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