Trump in tense meeting with Zelensky as pair clash over Putin's intentions and Ukraine demands Tomah

[mystery-ak]

Trump in tense meeting with Zelensky as pair clash over Putin's intentions and Ukraine demands Tomahawk missiles

By NIKKI SCHWAB, CHIEF CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT and ELINA SHIRAZI, US SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER and ROSS IBBETSON, US ASSISTANT EDITOR

Published: 13:29 EDT, 17 October 2025 | Updated: 14:57 EDT, 17 October 2025

Ukrainian President Zelensky delivered a pointed rebuke to Donald Trump's assessment of the war in Ukraine on Friday, insisting Vladimir 'Putin doesn't want peace' even as the American president continued to express confidence a resolution was in sight.

'We want peace, Putin doesn't want peace. That's why we need pressure on him,' Zelensky said, underscoring Kyiv's call for stronger US support.

At the same meeting, Trump said he believed Putin wants to finish the war.

'I think President Putin wants to end the war, or he wouldn't be talking this way,' Trump said.

Later in questions with reporters, Trump said he was concerned about being played by Putin, revealing his conflicting feelings around the quagmire that has lasted three years and eight months.

'I have been played all my life by the best of them,' Trump acknowledged, a signal of his lingering reticence with Putin following a long conversation with the Russian leader on Thursday.

Zelensky started off his part of his remarks Friday celebrating Trump's success in the Middle East while noting the challenges of codifying a lasting truce.

'Even now you see in the Middle East, it's very difficult to hold ceasefire. Everywhere in every war, it's very difficult,' Zelensky noted.

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15199573/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-zelensky.html

[DefiantMassRINO]

Putin wants to end the his war in Ukraine by annexing all of Ukraine.

Trump is blinded by his envy for Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.

Not everybody wants peace.  Some use the promise of peace to live to fight another day.

Lincoln and Roosevelt had it right ... unconditional surrender.  That's when your enemy admits defeat because all other options have been exhausted.

[Timber Rattler]

'I think President Putin wants to end the war, or he wouldn't be talking this way,' Trump said.

Trump being foolish again.

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1979288677550641346

[Kamaji]

Whose characterization is it that the meeting was "tense" or that they "clashed"?  The headline seems to be quite at odds with the substance.

[berdie]

Whose characterization is it that the meeting was "tense" or that they "clashed"?  The headline seems to be quite at odds with the substance.

That's how it sounds to me as well. And as far as Z "demanding" Tomahawks, I heard DJT say they were being given earlier this week.
he must have changed his mind, for whatever reason.

[Kamaji]

That's how it sounds to me as well. And as far as Z "demanding" Tomahawks, I heard DJT say they were being given earlier this week.
he must have changed his mind, for whatever reason.

Personally, I think it would be a mistake for the U.S. to provide Ukraine with tomahawk missiles.  The optics would feed Putin's madness and claims that NATO was engaging directly, and they're hideously expensive on a per-missile basis.  Much better to take those funds and help Ukraine continue its homegrown drone fabrication facilities so they can continue hitting Russian oil assets, like storage depots and refineries.  Heck, maybe they can even start hitting individual wells with drones too.  That would both demoralize Russians, and make it difficult for Russia to deliver the oil it's pre-sold to China and India.  Win-win-win for the good guys.

[libertybele]

That's how it sounds to me as well. And as far as Z "demanding" Tomahawks, I heard DJT say they were being given earlier this week.
he must have changed his mind, for whatever reason.

Z has been given billions and all kinds of weapons .... we basically have enabled the two countries to continue to fight.

Trump can continue to try to reason with both sides but neither are going to give up.  Too many lives have been lost land has been conquered and the one that surrenders will  be seen as weak.  Explain to the families that have lost loved ones, how they can now just give up. 

This is a no win situation and enabling Z to continue to fight is just plain wrong.

[Kamaji]

Z has been given billions and all kinds of weapons .... we basically have enabled the two countries to continue to fight.

Trump can continue to try to reason with both sides but neither are going to give up.  Too many lives have been lost land has been conquered and the one that surrenders will  be seen as weak.  Explain to the families that have lost loved ones, how they can now just give up. 

This is a no win situation and enabling Z to continue to fight is just plain wrong.

Ahh, so we should just sell out people fighting for their liberty against oppressive orcs because it's just too expensive.   Got it.  What's the price of your liberty?

[Timber Rattler]

This is a no win situation and enabling Z to continue to fight is just plain wrong.

So Trump should just cut-off Ukraine and force them to unconditionally surrender their country to the Russians? 

What if Roosevelt had done that to Churchill in 1940?

[DefiantMassRINO]

"Bad things' need to start happening to Russia's shadow fleet of oil tankers.

Let Japan, China, and India buy all the Russian oil they want ... but let them wait on the docks for 'old, rusty, leaky' tankers that will never arrive.

[berdie]

Z has been given billions and all kinds of weapons .... we basically have enabled the two countries to continue to fight.

Trump can continue to try to reason with both sides but neither are going to give up.  Too many lives have been lost land has been conquered and the one that surrenders will  be seen as weak.  Explain to the families that have lost loved ones, how they can now just give up. 

This is a no win situation and enabling Z to continue to fight is just plain wrong.

Z is fighting for his country, imho. As are the citizens involved. I would only hope our country would fight as hard if a similar situation existed.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Z has been given billions and all kinds of weapons .... we basically have enabled the two countries to continue to fight.

Trump can continue to try to reason with both sides but neither are going to give up.  Too many lives have been lost land has been conquered and the one that surrenders will  be seen as weak.  Explain to the families that have lost loved ones, how they can now just give up. 

This is a no win situation and enabling Z to continue to fight is just plain wrong.

Trump is... right to be cautious. A lot of people forget that Russia is still a nuclear power, frankly it's armed to the teeth with nukes. I dunno. I can't really criticize him for this.

[libertybele]

So Trump should just cut-off Ukraine and force them to unconditionally surrender their country to the Russians? 

What if Roosevelt had done that to Churchill in 1940?

I said nothing about forcing  Ukraine to unconditionally surrender -- let the chips fall where they may.  There are other countries that would step in, but the US has contributed plenty.

Should we bomb Russia into oblivion if they don't surrender??  It goes both ways .... and history repeats itself with the Russo Ukraine war over and over.

[libertybele]

Trump is... right to be cautious. A lot of people forget that Russia is still a nuclear power, frankly it's armed to the teeth with nukes. I dunno. I can't really criticize him for this.

Not criticizing Trump, but I'm not quite so certain that Russia would actually resort to nukes; that would be a significant mistake  on Putin's part and  I believe he knows it.

[Timber Rattler]

Not criticizing Trump, but I'm not quite so certain that Russia would actually resort to nukes; that would be a significant mistake  on Putin's part and  I believe he knows it.

There's no evidence whatsoever that Russia's nukes still work, judging by the very poor maintenance and corruption within the rest of its military.  They do have a shelf-life.  The last time the Rooskiis lit off a nuke was in October 1990, and all of Putin's recent nuclear tests have been failures.

[libertybele]

There's no evidence whatsoever that Russia's nukes still work, judging by the very poor maintenance and corruption within the rest of its military.  They do have a shelf-life.  The last time the Rooskiis lit off a nuke was in October 1990, and all of Putin's recent nuclear tests have been failures.

Good information to know. 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

There's no evidence whatsoever that Russia's nukes still work, judging by the very poor maintenance and corruption within the rest of its military.  They do have a shelf-life.  The last time the Rooskiis lit off a nuke was in October 1990, and all of Putin's recent nuclear tests have been failures.

 

I've heard that, and I also have heard that the reason their conventional weapons are so crappy is that they have always relied on their nukes as a deterrent. They put all their eggs in the nuke basket sort of thing.

[Hoodat]

Z has been given billions

The State Department and USAID have been given billions.  Zelenskiy?  Not so much.