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US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has told Fox News that it will be a “rough situation” if Russia does not agree to a peace plan.
Trump made his comments speaking to Fox News, where he discussed yesterday’s unprecedented meeting of European leaders in the White House as they seek an end to the war raging within Ukraine.
The war, which has been ongoing for over three years, has shown no signs of slowing. This has lead to an increased diplomatic push for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his US counterpart met in Washington yesterday to discuss the war after Trump’s meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, which ended without a breakthrough.
Flanked by European leaders, Zelenskyy and Trump gave statements to the media and posed for the ‘family photograph’ – which featured the two alongside President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen, French president Emmanuel Macron, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, Nato chief Mark Rutte, British prime minister Keir Starmer, German chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Finnish president Alexander Stubb.
After the initial meeting, the leaders held a private meeting. Security guarantees were agreed for Ukraine by Trump as part of any agreement to end the war.
Trump said that he then called Putin, who accepted this. Putin then told Trump that he is willing to meet Zelenskyy, while Zelenskyy said he was ready for what will be the first first face-to-face meeting between the two men since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly three and a half years ago.
FOX: What was the reaction among European leaders when you decided to call Putin during your meeting?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 19, 2025
TRUMP: I didn't do it in front of them. I thought that would be disrespectful to President Putin. pic.twitter.com/Rt7jJoKX9R
Today, speaking to Fox News, Trump said Putin would face a “rough situation” if he did not co-operate in the peace process, while Volodymyr Zelenskyy had to “show some flexibility”.
He restated his position that Ukraine would not be able to get back Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and would not be joining Nato as part of the peace deal.
Ahead of a hoped-for meeting by the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, Trump told Fox News: “I hope President Putin is going to be good and if he’s not, that’s going to be a rough situation.
“And I hope that Zelenskyy, President Zelenskyy, will do what he has to do. He has to show some flexibility.”
Ukraine was “not going to be a part of Nato”, he said, but European troops would deter any future Russian invasion.
“(Ukraine) are not going to be a part of Nato but we’ve got the European nations, so they’ll front-load it and they’ll have – some of them, France and Germany, a couple of them, the UK – they are going to have boots on the ground.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem, to be honest. I think Putin is tired of it, I think they are all tired of it, but you never know. We are going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks, that I can tell you.”
He said it was “possible he doesn’t want to make a deal”.
Later, he said, “Our country has gone from a dead country one year ago. We’re the hottest country in the world, and every one of those people said it yesterday. They said, ‘in six months, you’ve made this the hottest country in the world’.”
Trump added he was questioned about what would happen if US voters put “some anti-business president” in the White House and continued: “I said, ‘well, life is full of nasty little surprises, but I don’t think it’s going to happen’.”
On Europe, he said that the leaders present yesterday are “very good people” who are “very good leaders of their countries”.
“You know, they’re consumed far more with this than we are, because they’re right there… We have an ocean that’s separating us […] a big, beautiful ocean, and they don’t, you know, they’re right there”. “It’s a different kind of a thing for them,” he added.
On security, Trump said that “they’re willing to put people on the ground” and added: “We’re willing to help them with things, especially probably if you could talk about by air, because there’s nobody has the kind of stuff we have.”
With additional reporting by PA
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