President Donald Trump鈥檚 national security adviser said Sunday that top administration officials will meet with European officials this week about how to end the war in Ukraine, nearly three years after Russia launched an all-out invasion.
Less than a day earlier, the New York Post reported that Trump had a phone call with to . There was no immediate confirmation from the White House or the Kremlin. 好色tv Security Advisor Mike Waltz declined to comment in a television interview.
Waltz said the Russian economy is not doing well and that Trump 鈥渋s prepared to tax, to tariff, to sanction鈥 Moscow to get Putin to the negotiating table.
But Waltz also underscored the Trump administration is looking to use this week鈥檚 engagements to begin talks on clawing back some of the United States鈥 assistance to Ukraine. He said European allies will also need to take a greater role in supporting Ukraine going forward.
鈥淲e need to recoup those costs and that is going to be a partnership with the Ukrainians in terms of their natural resources and their oil and gas and also buying ours,鈥 Waltz said in an appearance on NBC鈥檚 Meet the Press. 鈥淭hose conversations are going to happen this week. And I think an underlying principle here is that the Europeans have to own this conflict going forward. President Trump is going to end it. And then in terms of security guarantees, that is squarely going to be with the Europeans.鈥欌
Vice President JD Vance will be in Paris on Monday for an artificial intelligence summit that鈥檚 gathering government officials and will head later in the week to the Munich Security Conference, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will lead the battle-weary country鈥檚 delegation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump鈥檚 special envoy on Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, will also be in Munich.
On Wednesday, Hegseth will join the main international forum for drumming up weapons and ammunition for Ukraine. He's set to participate in a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels the following day.
The U.K. is convening the 26th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a consortium of about 50 partner nations, on Wednesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels. It was not immediately clear whether the U.K. convened the meeting on its own initiative or whether Washington requested it.
Kyiv under pressure as Russian troops advance and Trump floats talks with Putin
Putin is closer than ever to achieving his objectives in battle-weary Ukraine, with little incentive to come to the negotiating table, no matter how much Trump might cajole or threaten him, .
Putin has previously said Trump was and even parroted his false claims of having won the 2020 election. Trump鈥檚 opening gambit was to call Putin 鈥渟mart鈥 and to threaten Russia with tariffs and oil price cuts, which the Kremlin brushed off.
Trump boasted during the presidential election campaign that he could end the war in 24 hours, which later became six months. He鈥檚 indicated the U.S. is without Kyiv鈥檚 input, saying his administration already had 鈥渧ery serious鈥 discussions.
That would run counter to the Biden administration鈥檚 position that echoed Zelenskyy鈥檚 call of 鈥淣othing about Ukraine without Ukraine.鈥 The Ukrainian leader has suggested any peace deal reached without Kyiv's input would send the dangerous signal that adventurism pays to authoritarian leaders in China, North Korea and Iran.
Meanwhile, Trump has hinted he and Putin could soon take 鈥渟ignificant鈥 action toward ending the war, in which Russia is suffering heavy casualties daily while its economy endures stiff Western sanctions, inflation and a serious labor shortage. But the economy has not collapsed, and because Putin has unleashed the harshest crackdown on dissent since Soviet times, he faces no domestic pressure to end the war.
Ukraine hopes to make its case in Munich
Andriy Yermak, a top Zelenskyy adviser who will attend the Munich security conference, . He said Kyiv hopes to discuss what security guarantees could be put in place to prevent repeated aggression by Russia.
The Munich summit comes at a pivotal moment for Ukraine, which is striving to establish a relationship with the new U.S. administration, a key partner during its yearslong war against Russia.
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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Paris contributed.
