• By Ajeet Kumar
  • Tue, 19 Aug 2025 12:42 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND
US President Donald Trump, who addressed his Ukrainian counterpart and the European leaders in the White House on Monday (local time), caught on a hot mic, whispering something he called “crazy”. “I think he [Russian President Vladimir Putin] wants to make a deal,” the New York Post quoted Trump whispering to French President Emmanuel Macron in the East Room. “I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.”
 
It means Trump wants to convey a message to President Macron that he feels his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, wants to “please him”. However, he did not speak further to substantiate his claims. The bold claims from Trump came as he asserted he brokered the India-Pakistan ceasefire. Although New Delhi rejected his claim, the Kremlin has yet to respond.

Trump-Putin Alaska Summit

Earlier on Friday, Trump and Putin held a high-stakes meeting in Alaska, with an aim to end t Russia-Ukraine war. However, the summit failed to secure an agreement. “There's no deal until there's a deal,” the US president said, after Putin claimed they had hammered out an “understanding” on Ukraine and warned Europe not to “torpedo the nascent progress,” Trump said.

 
Trump, who for years has balked at American support for Ukraine and expressed admiration for Putin, had pledged confidently to bring about an end to the war on his first day back in the White House. Seven months later, after berating Zelenskyy in the Oval Office and stanching the flow of some US military assistance to Kyiv, Trump could not bring Putin even to pause the fighting, as his forces make gains on the battlefield.

Trump promises to arrange Putin-Zelenskyy meeting

Menwhile, Trump on Monday said he's begun arrangements for a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy to discuss a pathway to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while affirming that the US would back European security guarantees aimed at preventing Moscow from reinvading its neighbor once the current conflict ends. Trump said he would forge ahead with arrangements for a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin. He spoke by phone with Putin during Monday's talks with Zelenskyy and the leaders of Britain, Finland, France, Germany and Italy as well as the president of the European Commission and head of NATO.
 
(With inputs from agency)