At the start of his second term in office, Trump appeared to be more aligned with Russia than Ukraine, labelling Zelensky a “dictator” and suggesting he was to blame for the war with Russia.
Although he has since signalled his impatience with Putin – “he’s just tapping me along”, he said in April – Trump has also refused to say whether he felt the Russian leader had been lying to him over his readiness to move towards a ceasefire.
Whether because of personal affinity or an aligned worldview, Trump has been reluctant to ever fully condemn Putin for his actions.
When the two met in Helsinki in 2018 – during Trump’s first term as president – many were left stunned to see Trump side with the Kremlin over accusations of Russian meddling in the 2016 US election and take responsibility for the tense state of US-Russia relations.
It is perhaps partly to fend off the possibility of Trump being swayed by Putin that Kyiv wants to be involved in any ceasefire talks.
Through his envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump has also suggested holding a trilateral with Putin and Zelensky. But the Russian president has batted off these suggestions, saying the conditions for a meeting are still far off.
Now some in Ukraine are concerned a Trump-Putin meeting may result in the US president giving in to Putin’s demands.
Ukrainian MP Iryna Herashchenko said it was becoming evident that demands for territorial concessions by Ukraine would be made and added being absent from the negotiating table would be “very dangerous” for Kyiv.
“Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same bold approach from the Russian side,” Zelensky said on Thursday.
But the gulf between Russia and Ukraine remains.
And should the Kremlin eventually agree to a trilateral meeting, Moscow’s demands for a ceasefire have proven so intractable that it is unclear what bringing Zelensky and Putin face-to-face might achieve.