Donald Trump was inadvertently caught revealing his unusual reasoning for believing a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine might be possible.
During a whispered exchange with French President Emmanuel Macron at a summit with other European leaders on Aug. 18, the U.S. president suggested he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin would end the war in Ukraine to give Trump a personal win.
The comment was picked up by a hot mic, Fox News reported.
“I think he [Putin] wants to make a deal. I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand that?” Trump said. “As crazy as it sounds.”
The meeting took place at the White House, where leaders from NATO, the EU, Finland, Germany, Italy, and the U.K. gathered on short notice to support Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid ongoing negotiations to end the land war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/alexander-stubb-volodymyr-zelensky-donald-trump-emmanuel-macron-white-house-082025-1-1721721ba4fe45e2ae6d86f844ee7fcc.jpg)
The summit followed Trump’s recent meeting with Putin in Alaska, also focused on peace efforts. While progress was reportedly made, Trump acknowledged that no official deal had been reached.
The Aug. 18 summit marked Zelenskyy’s first return to the White House since Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly criticized him on live TV in February, reprimanding him for not wearing a suit and allegedly not showing enough gratitude for U.S. support.
This time, Zelenskyy appeared mindful of previous tensions, wearing a military-style suit and publicly thanking Trump more than 10 times during the summit.
Speaking about his private meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy described it as productive. Trump added that he intended to facilitate a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders in the near future.
