{"id":168776,"date":"2025-10-20T18:13:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T18:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-latest-i-never-said-ukraine-would-win-trump-says-as-he-insists-well-get-there-on-ending-conflict-sky-news\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T18:13:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T18:13:01","slug":"ukraine-war-latest-i-never-said-ukraine-would-win-trump-says-as-he-insists-well-get-there-on-ending-conflict-sky-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-latest-i-never-said-ukraine-would-win-trump-says-as-he-insists-well-get-there-on-ending-conflict-sky-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine war latest: 'I never said Ukraine would win', Trump says – as he insists 'we'll get there' on ending conflict – Sky News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump says “we’ll get there” on ending the war – despite reports of his latest “shouting match” with Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week. The Ukrainian is reportedly expected in London on Friday for more “coalition of the willing” talks. Follow the latest here.
Monday 20 October 2025 19:03, UK
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Michael Clarke<\/a>, our military analyst, will be back on Tuesday at 1pm to answer your questions about the war in Ukraine.
As always with his regular Q&A, we’re keen to hear from you – use the form above to get in touch with your question.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to Brussels to attend a summit of the European Council on Thursday, a source familiar with the matter has told Reuters. 
The summit is expected to discuss Ukraine and European defence, the European Union says. 
As we reported earlier, Zelenskyy is also expected in London on Friday to attend a meeting of Ukraine’s allies known as the “coalition of the willing”. 
What actually happened at the White House on Friday?
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy seemed to be getting on in public but a number of reports have claimed things got heated behind the scenes, as we’ve been reporting throughout the day.
Here, we break down a report by US broadcaster CNN about the reported row – each side has a different description about what happened.
Trump and Zelenskyy were warm in public – watch below<\/i>
‘Frustrated’ Trump ‘raised his voice’ – European sources<\/b>
The US president “grew frustrated and raised his voice multiple times”, European officials briefed on the meeting said afterwards.
These officials revealed the apparent purpose of the maps at the White House talks (which the Financial Times said Trump “threw” in anger) – with Ukraine’s delegation bringing them to show the current frontlines, in the hopes of persuading Trump to keep US support coming and even step it up. 
But the American president “seemed uninterested in the arguments, and forcefully insisted Ukraine agree to land concessions for the war to end”, CNN quoted the European sources as saying.
What Ukrainians told the media<\/b>
A Ukrainian source said the meeting was “tense” but there was “no shouting” – downplaying the wider reports of a row.
The same source said that, overall, the meeting was “constructive” – a description Zelenskyy supported afterwards.
Zelenskyy described the White House meeting as a “pointed conversation” in a post on social media but said its outcome “can really help bring this war closer to an end”.
‘Uncomfortable’, ‘direct’ and ‘honest’ talks – CNN reports<\/b>
Several sources familiar with the talks also told CNN that last week’s meeting was tense, frank and, at times, “uncomfortable” with the two leaders divided.
Trump made clear to Zelenskyy in a “direct and honest” conversation that – for now – the Ukrainian leader would not receive the long-range missiles that can reach far into Russia that he was seeking, the broadcaster added.
Explained: Why Tomahawks are off the table – watch<\/i>
Ukraine might be seeking to prolong war – US official<\/b>
Trump felt during the meeting that Ukraine is seeking to escalate and prolong the conflict, CNN quoted one US official as saying.
Source: Trump stance due to ‘realities of where conflict stands’<\/b>
CNN also reports that the US president has told those around him that his demand for a ceasefire along current battle lines was due to the “realities of where the conflict stands”.
Trump argues there has been “too much devastation and too much killing”, another US official told the broadcaster.
Trump in his own words<\/b>
Since the reports about the tense meeting emerged, the White House has simply referred journalists to what Trump has said on the record.
On Air Force One on Sunday, the president said: “We think that what they should do is just stop at the lines where they are, the battle lines.
“The rest is very tough to negotiate if you\u2019re going to say, ‘You take this, we take that.'”
In the same comments, Trump  denied he’d asked Zelensky to concede the entire Donbas region – contrary to the reports about the heated meeting.
Trump added on the Donbas: “It’s cut up right now, I think 78% of the land is already taken by Russia.
“They should stop right now at the battle lines… Go home, stop killing people and be done.”
Watch: Trump also said on Air Force One he was working his “ass off”.<\/i>
But what should we believe?<\/b>
The trouble with Trump, of course, is that he regularly changes his position – as he did earlier tonight when he told the media he never said Ukraine could win the war.
Just a few weeks ago, the president shifted his stance – suggesting Ukraine could win back all of its land.
At the time, Zelenskyy told Sky News that was a “big shift”.
All day, the big story has been how Donald Trump’s latest meeting with Voloydmyr Zelenskyy last week at the White House reportedly deteriorated into a “shouting match” – during which the US president is said to have thrown maps.
The Ukrainians had approached the meetings in Washington DC in confident mood, hoping to secure Tomahawk missiles to give them long-range strike capabilities.
But everything changed after Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin by phone the day before Zelenskyy’s arrival.
Listen to the Trump 100 podcast’s take on the Trump-Putin call below<\/i>
That call “effectively derailed” the prospects of success for Ukraine at the talks, the Kyiv Independent reports.
The Ukrainian news outlet has comments from a closed-door meeting with Zelenskyy and select journalists yesterday.
“(Putin called Trump) because of the Tomahawks,” Zelenskyy said at the briefing, which the Kyiv Independent attended.
“In my opinion, (Trump) doesn’t want an escalation with the Russians until he meets with them.”
However, the Ukrainian president is still hopeful of securing Tomahawk missiles.
According to Zelenskyy, some European countries also have the weapons, and if the US gives the green light, they could proceed with supplying them to Kyiv.
More now on Donald Trump hosting Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House – where the war in Ukraine remains a hot topic (see our 17.00 post).
David Blevins<\/a>, our US correspondent, said as Albanese arrived that the Australian PM had a “bargaining chip” in the form of rare earths and minerals which America needs for making modern tech.
The two leaders have signed a deal on those minerals in the last hour.
But Blevins also summed up the controversy being reported today about Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy last week – during which, the Financial Times says, Trump shouted and swore behind the scenes at Ukraine’s refusal to accept Russia’s peace terms.
Watch the arrival and Blevins reporting from Washington DC below…
Donald Trump is taking questions from the media, and says he has “one more to go” when it comes to settling wars.
“It’s Russia and Ukraine, and I think we’ll get there, but it’s turned out to be nasty because you have two leaders that truly hate each other,” he says.
“They hate each other beyond all else, and it makes it actually a little bit difficult.”
‘I never said they would win it’<\/b>
Trump is also asked about whether he thinks Ukraine can win the war.
“I don’t think they will, but they could still win it, I never said they would win it,” he says.
“I said they could win, anything can happen. War is a very strange thing, a lot of bad things happen.”
The US president changed his tune a few weeks ago, suggesting at a UN gathering in New York that Ukraine could retake all of its territory – a stance he’d never taken before.
Voloydmyr Zelenskyy told Sky News at the time the comments were a “big shift” for the US leader.
Trump toughened his talk on Russia after his summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska did not lead to a peace breakthrough.
However, last week, Trump and Putin spoke on the phone for the first time since that meeting – which led to the US president toning down his talk of giving Ukraine Tomahawk missiles.
He also reportedly shouted at Zelenskyy behind the scenes at the White House on Friday, while suggesting Ukraine should accept Putin’s demands for territory to end the war.
In Washington DC, Donald Trump is taking questions with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the cabinet room. 
You can watch along below via our live stream – we’ll bring you anything they say about the war in Ukraine.
We brought you Moscow’s side of events after the phone call between Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and US secretary of state Marco Rubio (see 15.33 post).
We’ve now heard from Washington, with State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott saying Rubio “emphasised the importance of upcoming engagements”.
Pigott said Rubio pitched the upcoming talks as “an opportunity for Moscow and Washington to collaborate on advancing a durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war”.
The EU’s foreign policy chief has insisted Donald Trump is sincere about trying to end the war in Ukraine, but warned talks which exclude Ukraine and Europe will be inconclusive.
“We are working also trying to convince our allies all across the world, nothing can come out of these meetings if Ukraine or Europe is not part of it,” Kaja Kallas told reporters.
“Who doesn’t want to end this war is Russia. We should not be distracted… we have to make also Russia want peace.”
Earlier, Kallas admitted it was “not nice” that Putin could travel to EU member Hungary for talks with Trump (see 10.21 post).
Over to Washington now, where Donald Trump is welcoming Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to the White House.
The US president is often asked a range of questions during his sit down in the Oval Office with world leaders, so we’ll bring you anything he has to say about the war.
Emmanuel Macron has announced that there will be a meeting of the coalition of the willing in London on Friday.
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to London for the talks later this week.
The coalition – co-chaired by Sir Keir Starmer, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz – has the aim of bringing countries together to protect a peace deal in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy held a phone call with European leaders after his meeting with Donald Trump last week and confirmed that he would be meeting them soon.
Be the first to get Breaking News<\/span>
Install the Sky News app for free<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump says “we’ll get there” on ending the war – despite reports of his latest “shouting match” with Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week. The Ukrainian is reportedly expected in London on Friday for more “coalition of the willing” talks. Follow the latest here.Monday 20 October 2025 19:03, UKPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":168777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-168776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}