Wednesday, Feb. 12 was another jam-packed day at the White House. After speaking with Russian President Putin, President Trump spoke with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, claiming that Zelenskyy, “like President Putin, wants to make PEACE.” Trump noted at the end of his Truth Social post about the call: “God bless the people of Russia and Ukraine!”
Later in the day, after the swearing-in of Tulsi Gabbard as
Director of National Intelligence, Trump took questions from reporters. Among the comments he made was that in their phone call, he and Putin discussed no preconditions regarding a future meeting between them. “I think we’re on the way to getting peace. I think President Putin wants peace, and President Zelenskyy wants peace, and I want peace,” Trump said. The President also revealed that discussions are underway for a possible meeting “in the not too distant future” (see separate report.
When asked whether Ukraine would be allowed to join NATO, Trump said he thought it was “impractical,” and went on to say: “I think long before President Putin, they [the Russians] said there’s no way they’d allow that. … They’ve been saying that for a long time, that Ukraine cannot go into NATO. And I’m okay with that.”
