Trump claims ‘good conversation’ with Putin since Monday talks — but no details on Ukraine meeting as Russia keeps striking

WASHINGTON — President Trump confirmed Monday that he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin since their phone call last week to set up a sitdown with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — but despite the “good conversation,” no meeting has been scheduled with Kyiv while Moscow continues its assault on its neighbor.

“Every conversation I have with him is a good conversation,” Trump, 79, told reporters in the Oval Office of Putin, 72.

“And then, unfortunately, a bomb is loaded up into Kyiv or someplace, and then I get very angry about it,” he seethed, before adding: “I think we’re going to get the war done. It’s tough.”

Trump is urging Putin to meet Zelensky, 47, face-to-face for the first time since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022. The White House indicated Moscow was open to president-level meetings after Trump met with Zelensky and seven other Western leaders at the White House Aug. 18, but the Kremlin has since pushed back on the claim.

Since then, Russia has struck numerous civilian facilities in Ukraine — including a American-owned electronics plant in the rarely targeted western portion of the country.

On Sunday, Lavrov cast doubt on Putin and Zelensky ever signing a peace deal, calling the Ukrainian president “illegitimate.”

“When it comes to signing legal documents … we would need very clear understanding by everybody that the person who is signing is legitimate,” Lavrov told NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

Critics say Moscow’s refusal to acknowledge Zelensky as anything more than a “de facto” leader is motivated by the Kremlin’s desire to place a pro-Russia puppet in the Ukrainian president’s office.

The White House is continuing to push for a Putin-Zelensky bilateral meeting, Trump said Monday, before warning “there could be very big consequences” if Russia doesn’t agree soon.

“We’ll see what happens. There might be very big consequences, because this is something that has to end,” he said. “So we’ll see what happens over the next week or two, and at that point I’ll step in very strongly, and if I have to be there, I’ll be there, and we’ll either have a deal or we won’t.”

Trump has previously expressed his frustration with Putin killing Ukrainian civilians immediately following seemingly positive conversations.

“We get a lot of bulls— thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump told reporters on July 8. “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

The following week, the president recalled how first lady Melania Trump pointed out to him that Putin always backs out of his promises following their phone calls.

“I go home, I tell the first lady, ‘You know, I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.’ She said, ‘Oh, really? Another city was just hit,’” he said at the time.

Trump previously threatened to impose secondary sanctions on Russia, before pausing his ultimatum after Putin agreed to meet with him in Alaska Aug. 15.

He relayed Monday that the main issue holding back talks is “some big personality conflicts” between Putin and Zelensky, despite Kyiv having been ready to meet the Russian dictator since Trump first called for such a meeting shortly after taking office.

“From their standpoint, there’s tremendous dislike personally between the two men, and we’re going to have to straighten that out. But I would like to see them [meet] first. They’d like me to be there. I may be there. I may not. I’ll see. But I wanted them to work out their differences first, because it is ultimately between them. And when that happens, I think we’ll get it in.”

Trump also revealed that while he spoke to Western leaders at the White House Aug. 18 about potential security guarantees for Ukraine, no “specifics” have been discussed about what the US would be willing to provide.

“If we get a deal, you’re not going to — I don’t believe you can have much of a problem, but we’ll back it up because I want to stop seeing people being killed,” he said.

Notably, Trump did not rule out a previous suggestion of contributing American air forces or other US military support as part of a security package for Ukraine co-authored by Europe.