Trump says he wants Zelenskyy to 'make a deal' with Russia

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make a deal with Russia, increasing pressure on the Ukrainian leader even as Moscow continues its war, launched four years ago.

Trump also said he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to release Stephen Hubbard, an American taken captive by Moscow's forces years earlier in Ukraine, in a fresh sign of his shift back towards Moscow.

"We want Zelenskyy to make a deal. He can make a deal. He could have made a deal two years ago when we had our little chat in the Oval Office," Trump told reporters in the same room.

Trump, Vice-President JD Vance and Zelenskyy had a bruising televised confrontation in the Oval Office in February 2025, shortly after the Ukraine-sceptic US president returned to office.

"He's going to have to want to make a deal, because I don't think his people are going to stand for it any longer," Trump said on Tuesday.

Relations between Kyiv and Washington have soured since Trump partially lifted sanctions to strike a diesel supply deal with Putin and criticised Zelenskyy as a warmonger over Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries.

The Ukrainian leader met Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo on Tuesday for talks aimed at easing tensions.

Zelenskyy welcomed the resumption of US intelligence-sharing on impending Russian strikes but insisted that Kyiv must be included in any future talks on its fate, following meetings with US envoys.

Ukraine has become increasingly alarmed by Trump's return to effectively blaming Kyiv for the failure to end the war that began with Moscow's invasion in February 2022, as well as his warm words towards Putin.

Trump indicated that a deal with Russia to free Hubbard could be imminent.

"I've been talking to President Putin about Mr Hubbard. I've been talking to him at length. I've asked him to release him. Let's see what happens," Trump said in response to a question from an AFP journalist.

"Just stick with me," Trump added. "Just you remember that question a couple of days from now, because I do things that nobody else can do."