Trump says he expects Putin to keep some Ukrainian land in latest U-turn: ‘I mean, he’s won certain property’

Donald Trump told a Fox anchor that he expected Ukraine to make territorial concessions in any peace agreement his administration could potentially orchestrate between Kyiv and Moscow to bring the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine to an end.

In an interview that aired on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, the U.S. president indicated that under the terms of a deal authored by the White House, Russia would likely be allowed to retain territory it has occupied since February of 2022.

Trump spoke with Russia’s Vladimir Putin by phone for two hours on Thursday, then met the following day with Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House where all public signs of the tension between the two men which had erupted at a meeting this spring had vanished. Privately, however, the Financial Times reported on Sunday that the conversation between Trump and Zelensky repeatedly devolved into a “shouting match” with the U.S. president warning his counterpart that Russia would “destroy” his country if he didn’t accept territorial concessions.

On Sunday, Bartiromo asked Trump whether he’d gotten a sense from Putin during that conversation that he was “open to ending this war without taking significant property from Ukraine?”

Cutting in, Trump responded, “I did, I did.” But his answer shifted as the Fox host finished her question and asked whether Putin would return Ukrainian territory.

“Well, he's gonna take something. I mean, they fought and, he, uh, he has a lot of property. I mean, you know ... he's won certain property,” Trump said, before sarcastically quipping: “You know, we’re the only country that goes in, wins a war and then leaves.”

This is a sharp departure from the aggressive rhetoric the U.S. president was pushing in late September, when he was urging Ukraine to continue fighting until it had regained all of its lost territory. Ukraine hasn’t signalled a willingness to recognize Russian claims to the Crimean and Donbas regions, including the cities of Donetsk and Mariupol.

As peace talks with Russia stalled over the summer, Trump hardened his stance against Moscow and seemed to be coming around to an assumption that many in Washington’s foreign policy establishment have held since 2022 — that Vladimir Putin isn’t interested in peace without significant further Ukrainian concessions beyond what has played out on the battlefield. In the past week, however, Trump has renewed his efforts aimed at securing a peace agreement as he has become emboldened by the shaky truce struck by the White House between Israel on Gaza. On Sunday, that ceasefire seemed to be wavering as both sides traded accusations of violations.

In September, Trump wrote that Ukraine could “take back their country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that!” in a Truth Social posting. In other statements, he signaled interest in mounting further pressure on Moscow, including through a congressional sanctions package or the sale of further arms such as Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.

The Tomahawk, much sought after by Mr Zelensky, has a range of about 1,600km (995 miles) but experts warned that it could take years to provide the equipment and training necessary for Ukraine to use them effectively. The Ukrainian leader made the request to Trump during his visit to the White House on Friday; Zelensky sees further U.S. military aid including the delivery of new weapons systems as the most effective course of action for putting pressure on Russia to return to the negotiating table.

“Yeah, I might tell him [Putin], if the war is not settled, we may very well do it. We may not, but we may do it,” the president said earlier in October. “Do they want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so.”

He backed off that latter idea after threats from Russia and his conversation with Putin on Thursday, and with his latest statement will likely leave many in Washington wondering whether his position truly evolved at all. Putin called the issue a red line for U.S.-Russia relations, while his close ally Aleksandr Lukashenko, president of Belarus, warned it would risk “nuclear war” in Europe.

After his conversation with the Russian leader Trump also agreed to meet with Putin in Budapest on an undisclosed upcoming date.