Trump Says Zelensky Wants War with Russia to End After NATO Summit Meeting

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to see the war between Ukraine and Russia come to a close following their meeting at the NATO Summit.

Trump was asked about the meeting during his press conference at the summit in the Hague, Netherlands.

“He couldn’t have been nicer. I think he’d like to see an end to this, I do. What I took from the meeting — couldn’t have been nicer, actually — but I took from the meeting he’d like to see it end,” Trump said.

“I think it’s a great time to end it. I’m going to speak to Vladimir Putin to see if we can get it ended,” he added.

Trump noted that nearly 7,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers were killed last week alone.

In a post on X, Zelensky states that he shared “a long and substantive meeting” with Trump, during which they “covered all the truly important issues.”

“We discussed how to achieve a ceasefire and a real peace. We spoke about how to protect our people,” he noted. “We appreciate the attention and the readiness to help bring peace closer.”

This marked the second meeting between Trump and Zelensky since their tense meeting in the Oval Office in February. The pair met at Pope Francis’s funeral in Rome in April.

Trump also said during the press conference that he thinks Putin has been “misguided” in the negotiation process.

“I consider him a person that’s, I think, been misguided. I’m very surprised, actually, I thought we would have had that settled easy. I’ve settled four of them in the meantime,” Trump said, referring to ceasefires he has achieved since returning to office.

“But he did call up and he said, you know, he’s close to Iran, he’d like to help us get a settlement. I said, ‘No, no, you help me get a settlement with you, with Russia,’ and I think we’re going to be doing that, too,” Trump added.