Overview
- Sunday’s Mar-a-Lago meeting is the latest in seven face-to-face Trump–Zelensky encounters over 11 months, following an angry Oval Office clash in February.
- A Fox News-sourced account, reported by Il Fatto Quotidiano, says the talks could open the way to the first direct Putin–Zelensky phone contact in more than five years.
- The same sourcing asserts that Putin has refused to speak with Zelensky since July 2020, citing tensions that predated the communications freeze.
- Corriere della Sera reports that Putin has repeatedly influenced outcomes from afar, including a call before Zelensky’s October Washington visit that was said to help block a Tomahawk missile sale.
- Reporting also says Putin spoke with Trump before the Mar-a-Lago session and that Trump declined a Ukrainian truce request tied to a Donbass referendum, with these claims remaining unconfirmed.