Trump is going to cut a deal that is best for this country. Ukraine is irrelevant to the process.
“Trump ended the call by giving Zelensky his personal number and said he can call him directly,” @BarakRavid reports.
“Trump asked whether Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was on a trip to Ukraine, was already in Kyiv when it happened. Zelensky said he arrived after the strikes.”
“Trump told Zelensky that CIA Director John Ratcliffe and White House envoy Steve Witkoff are also going to be on the U.S. negotiating team, and asked that Zelensky appoint his own negotiating team.”
During the call, Zelensky also told Trump there had been Russian strikes on Kyiv and other cities overnight.
Trump asked whether Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was on a trip to Ukraine, was already in Kyiv when it happened. Zelensky said he arrived after the strikes.
Trump joked that if Bessent heard air strikes he “would have run away back to the U.S. already.”
Zelensky told Trump at the end of the call that he would give him a championship belt from Ukrainian heavyweight boxer Oleksandr Usyk.
Between the lines: Trump didn’t mention U.S. envoy for Russia-Ukraine Keith Kellogg either in the call with Zelensky or in his public remarks.