By Betsy Klein and Samantha Waldenberg, CNN
February 8, 2025
President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin. Getty Images
CNN —
President Donald Trump announced in an interview published Saturday that he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“He wants to see people stop dying,” Trump told the New York Post.
It was not immediately clear when the leaders spoke or if they had spoken since Trump took office in January, and how many times. CNN has reached out to the National Security Council for clarification.
Trump said in the interview he “better not say” how many times he had spoken with Putin but touted a “good relationship” with his Russian counterpart.
The US president expressed hope that Putin’s war in Ukraine, which is approaching its third anniversary, ends “fast.” He had previously vowed to end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office.
“I hope it’s fast. Every day people are dying. This war is so bad in Ukraine. I want to end this damn thing,” he told the New York Post.
Trump said earlier this week that talks to end the war had “made a lot of progress.”
During the interview, which took place as Trump traveled aboard Air Force One to Florida on Friday, the president directed his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, to “get these meetings going.”
“They want to meet. Every day people are dying. Young handsome soldiers are being killed. Young men, like my sons. On both sides. All over the battlefield,” he said.
On Friday, the president told reporters that he would “probably” meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this upcoming week and hinted that he planned to also talk with Putin.
“I will probably be meeting with President Zelensky next week, and I will probably be talking to President Putin,” Trump said.
Zelensky is expected to lead Ukraine’s delegation at the Munich Security Conference, which Vice President JD Vance and special envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg are also scheduled to attend, but not Trump.
Earlier this week, Trump said that he wants to secure access to Ukraine’s supply of rare earth minerals in exchange for continued US assistance to the country.
“We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine, where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earths and other things,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, complaining that Europe had not provided Ukraine the same level of aid as the US.
The transactional proposal offers some insight into Trump’s intentions when it comes to the Ukraine war. He has long complained about the US burden in arming Kyiv, but hasn’t detailed his plans for halting or continuing support since taking office.
The Kremlin told CNN earlier this week there have been no serious discussions about a possible meeting between Trump and Putin.
“They haven’t had any initial contact to discuss whether they need to meet or not and if they need, when and how,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN’s Matthew Chance.
Amid growing anticipation of contact between the two leaders, a senior Russian lawmaker told state media that that “advanced” preparations were underway for a meeting, possibly as early as this month.
“Every day people are dying. Young handsome soldiers are being killed. Young men, like my sons. On both sides. All over the battlefield,” he said.”
This “evenhanded” approach is nauseating. As if somehow there is no difference between invading nazi filth and the defenders trying to prevent their women and girls from being raped and murdered by them.
He already hurt Ukrainians hearts massively by stating his love for “the russian people”, now he’s doing it again.
“He wants to see people stop dying,” Trump told the New York Post.”
What an utterly stupid and naive thing to say, especially to the press, knowing that this utter naive stupidity will be broadcast far and wide. People all across this globe know that putler doesn’t give a rat’s ass about lives, whether it’s his meat puppets, Ukrainian ones, soldiers, civilians, animals … nothing is sacred, all must die for his wet dreams. Trump is such a childish buffoon.
“It was not immediately clear when the leaders spoke or if they had spoken since Trump took office in January, and how many times.”
Then why create this article? Does CNN not have more important news to bring than something every man, woman, child, and dog already knows?
Until the interview, trumpkov wouldn’t say whether or not he had spoken w/ putler since the election. So the fact that he now says they’ve spoken *is* news, even if it’s short on details.
But it clearly states: “It was not immediately clear when the leaders spoke or if they had spoken since Trump took office in January, and how many times.”
Right. Before, we didn’t know if they had spoken at all since the election. Now, we know that they did, even if we don’t know if it was before trumpkov took office (which might have been illegal) or after he took office.