Putin-Trump Summit Being Expedited In Wake Of Zelensky White House Row

CNN reports that a summit between Presidents Trump and Putin is now being fast-tracked in the wake of the explosive row with Zelensky, which saw him booted from the White House before a planned lunch was to take place Friday.

Last month saw talks in Riyadh aimed at fully restoring US-Russia relations end on a positive note between the delegations headed by Rubio and Lavrov. There was a follow-on meeting in Istanbul, leading to the restaffing of embassies (which had previously seen a tit-for-tat booting of diplomatic staff).

CNN writes in a fresh Monday report, “Whether it was orchestrated or not, Moscow – which reacted with glee to the White House slanging match – is now anticipating talks aimed at rebuilding the US-Russia relationship will continue, even accelerate, in the weeks ahead.”

“Nothing has been announced in public. But, privately, there’s talk of the Trump-Putin summit, always on the cards, now being fast-tracked,” the report continues.

“There is also renewed optimism in Moscow that, with President Zelensky at odds with President Trump and his team, difficult negotiations to end the war in Ukraine will now take a back seat to a raft of potentially lucrative US-Russia economic deals already being tabled behind closed doors,” CNN adds.

US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has meanwhile warned Zelensky not to test the limits of American patience. He strongly suggested in a fresh Fox interview that Zelensky is fully rejecting the possibility of ceasefire in the over three-year long conflict.

“[Zelensky] is not ready to talk peace at all. Here is the problem, time is not on his side. Time is not on the side of just forever continuing this conflict,” Waltz said on Fox.

“It was really confounding to us that Zelensky could have left the White House Friday having the US and Ukraine bound together economically for a generation,” Walz said in reference to the rare earth minerals deal that was supposed to be signed.

Still, Ukraine’s Zelensky says US support is “crucial” as he attempts to salvage the relationship. After being accused of being ungrateful by Vice President JD Vance on Friday, Zelensky spent the weekend tweeting out a serios of ‘thank you’ messages, and also at one point expressed: “It’s crucial for us to have President Trump’s support.”

Even the Biden administration long complained that Zelensky seemed ungrateful for the tens of billions Washington has devoted to the war effort:

In 2022, NBC was reporting that Joe Biden lost his temper with Zelensky because he wasn’t grateful and he was very demanding.

That’s in 2022.

Wait, the media didn’t tell you about this? I wonder why… pic.twitter.com/Dd43B41IWS

— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) March 2, 2025

He said in a series of posts on X Saturday morning of Trump, “He wants to end the war, but no one wants peace more than we do.” Zelensky has stressed that he sees this as impossible without strong security guarantees, however.