Putin Isn't Ready To End War In Ukraine, Trump Told Allies In Private

European leaders have been alarmed in the wake of their May 19 conference phone call with President Trump, as they believe he's prepared to given Putin a free hand in Ukraine, and is unwilling to impose more sanctions or further confront Moscow in a muscular way. He has also reportedly conveyed that the war is not my problem and that Russia and Ukraine will have to settle it on their own.

He reportedly informed European leaders, which had included French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky - that Putin is not ready for peace in Ukraine because he believes he is winning the war.

"On a call Monday, President Trump told European leaders that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t ready to end the Ukraine war because he thinks he is winning, according to senior European officials familiar with the conversation," The Wall Street Journal, which is the first to reveal the statements, writes.

"European leaders had long believed this—but it was the first time they were hearing it from Trump, these officials said. It also ran counter to what Trump has often said publicly, that he believes Putin genuinely wants peace," the report continues. They hope with this admission that Trump will escalate in support of Ukraine, but he has remained resistant to this pressure. And of course, this isn't what his voters want, nor is it (escalation) the majority position of the American people.

The White House has frequently said that it assesses Putin is genuine about seeking peace, in pushback to critics - including in Kiev - who say the Kremlin is just using the talks to stall as the Russian military makes slow advances on the ground, and further weaken Ukraine's front lines.

The result is that Europe and Kiev want Trump to ramp up support to Kiev and punish Russia, which would lead to escalation in the war, but Trump is refusing to go along with this strategy:

One of the officials, who was on the call, said Trump began the discussion by saying, "I think Vladimir does not want peace."

Although Trump appears to have come around to the idea that Putin isn’t ready for peace, the officials said, that hasn’t led him to do what the Europeans and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have been arguing he should do: double down on the fight against Russia.

This elicited surprise among the Europeans, who concluded that Trump seems relatively content at what he's been hearing from Putin in phone calls. 

Another key line from the WSJ report focuses on Trump's rejection of an 'unconditional' ceasefire in Ukraine:

Some of the Europeans on the call Monday insisted that the outcome of any talks at the Vatican must be an unconditional cease-fire. But Trump again demurred, saying he didn’t like the term “unconditional.” He said he had never used that term, although he used it when calling for a 30-day cease-fire in a post on his Truth Social platform on May 8. The Europeans eventually agreed to drop their insistence on the adjective.

Or to put it another way, Trump simply understands how negotiations work in reality and that Putin holds the cards and Zelensky isn't holding much, if any.

All of this is also a simple acknowledgement that of course Putin doesn't want peace which does not result in the Russian-speaking eastern territories being under the Russian Federation, as well as Crimea.

Moscow certainly isn't interested in a truce deal which still results in NATO military infrastructure right on its door step. Putin has long warned that NATO expansion means that another war would have to be fought in the future, even if the current Ukraine conflict ends.

The current mainstream media framing of Trump's efforts are intent on painting him as a Kremlin-sympathetic compromiser, when really he's just recognizing the reality of the Russian perspective, combined with the realization the West can't really do anything about it (short of military escalation which risks nuclear confrontation).