WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that talks to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine are "very well advanced" but cautioned, “If it doesn’t happen quickly, it may not happen at all.”
Trump made the comments as he hosted Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House for talks in which the British premier made his case that American leadership would be critical to maintaining the peace in Ukraine should the three-year war end.
President Donald Trump greets Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer as the U.K. leader arrives Thursday at the White House in Washington.
Trump also expressed confidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin won't press to restart the war if a truce can be reached.
"I think he'll keep his word," Trump said of Putin. "I've spoken to him, I've known him for a long time now, we had to go through the Russian hoax together."
That is a reference to the FBI and Justice Department investigation that examined whether Trump's 2016 presidential campaign illegally coordinated with Russia to sway the outcome of the U.S. election. Special counsel Robert Mueller found that though the Trump campaign welcomed Russia's help in the form of the release of hacked emails stolen from Democrats, there was insufficient evidence to prove the campaign colluded with Moscow.
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Journalists work Thursday outside U.S. Consul General residence in Istanbul, Turkey, where Russian and U.S. diplomats met to discuss operation of embassies.
Meanwhile, Russian and U.S. diplomats met Thursday in Istanbul to discuss normalizing the operation of their respective embassies after years expelling each others' diplomats.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks followed an understanding reached during Trump's call with Putin and contact between senior Russian and U.S. diplomats and other officials in Saudi Arabia.
Speaking during Thursday’s meeting of the Federal Security Service, Putin hailed the Trump administration's "pragmatism and realistic view” compared with what he described as the “stereotypes and messianic ideological cliches” of its predecessors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech Thursday during a meeting of the Federal Security Service board in Moscow, Russia.
“The first contacts with the new U.S. administration encourage certain hopes,” Putin said. “There is a mutual readiness to work to restore relations and gradually solve a colossal amount of systemic strategic problems in the global architecture.”
Putin said that “part of Western elites are still determined to maintain global instability” and could try to “disrupt or compromise the dialogue that has begun," adding that Russian diplomats and security agencies should focus their efforts on thwarting such attempts.
A U.S. Embassy official in Ankara confirmed the Istanbul talks focused on the issues affecting the operation of respective diplomatic missions. Moscow and Washington had no immediate comments after the negotiations, which Russian news agencies said lasted for more than six hours.
Trump also is looking to potentially reopen economic relations with Russia after three years of U.S.-led sanctions to punish Moscow for the invasion.
A van, believed to carry Russian diplomats, leaves U.S. Consul General residence Thursday in Istanbul, Turkey, after a meeting with U.S. counterparts to discuss operation of embassies.
With a mix of flattery and frank talk, the center-left Starmer made the case to the Republican president to remain cautious as he goes about ending the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. He started his visit by delivering an invitation from King Charles III to Trump for a “historic” state visit.
Starmer's trip, days after French President Emmanuel Macron's own visit to Trump, reflects the mounting concern felt by much of Europe that Trump's aggressive push to find an end to the war signals his willingness to concede too much to Putin.
The Trump administration held talks in Saudi Arabia last week with Russia — without Ukrainian or other European allies represented. This week, the U.S. refused to sign on to United Nations resolutions blaming Russia for the war, which began three years ago when Moscow invaded.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, meets Thursday with President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington.
After private talks Thursday with Trump, Starmer applauded the Republican president's push to end the Ukraine war, but said "it can't be peace that rewards the aggressor."
"History must be on the side of the peacemaker, not the invader," Starmer told reporters, with Trump by his side.
At a White House meeting Friday, Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are expected to sign off on a contentious agreement that would give the U.S. access to Ukraine's critical minerals, which are used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries. Zelenskyy chafed at a deal without specific security guarantees from Washington.
Trump was noncommittal about security guarantees, and underscored that Russia would think twice about attacking Ukraine if the U.S. builds an economic footprint there to extract critical minerals.
France also seeks access to Ukraine's deposits of critical minerals, with negotiations underway for months, the French defense minister said Thursday.
President Donald Trump meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, center left, alongside U.S. Vice President JD Vance, right, and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, left, on Thursday at the White House in Washington.
If a truce can be reached, Starmer and Macron agreed to send troops for a potential peacekeeping mission to Ukraine. White House officials are skeptical that Britain and France can assemble enough troops from across Europe to deploy a credible peacekeeping mission to Kyiv.
Zelenskyy met Thursday with Ireland's prime minister, Micheál Martin, who said Ireland is open to helping, including sending peacekeepers to Ukraine.
Starmer and others are trying to make the case that the plan can only work with a U.S. backstop for European forces on the ground — through U.S. aerial intelligence, surveillance and support, as well as rapid-response cover in case of breaches of a truce.
Starmer will host a meeting of international leaders Sunday, which will focus on Ukraine, in the United Kingdom.
Photos: Scenes of Russia's economy since war in Ukraine
FILE - People are seen through a window inside a restaurant at Patriarshiye Prudy with the word on the wall reads "Patriki" which means Patriarch's Ponds, a hip restaurants and bars district in Moscow, Russia, on Feb. 10, 2023. Russia has weathered sweeping Western economic sanctions better than many expected. Economic life for everyday Russians hasn't changed that much, with familiar imported goods either still available or replaced by local knockoffs. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
FILE - The tanker Sun Arrows loads its cargo of liquefied natural gas from the Sakhalin-2 project in the port of Prigorodnoye, Russia, on Oct. 29, 2021. After a year of far-reaching sanctions aimed at degrading Moscow's war chest, economic life for ordinary Russians doesn't look all that different than it did before the invasion of Ukraine. But with restrictions finally tightening on the Kremlin's chief moneymaker — oil — the months ahead will be an even tougher test of President Vladimir Putin's fortress economy. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - A view of the business tower Lakhta Centre, the headquarters of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 27, 2022. After a year of far-reaching sanctions aimed at degrading Moscow's war chest, economic life for ordinary Russians doesn't look all that different than it did before the invasion of Ukraine. But with restrictions finally tightening on the Kremlin's chief moneymaker — oil — the months ahead will be an even tougher test of President Vladimir Putin's fortress economy. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - An oil tanker is moored at the Sheskharis complex, part of Chernomortransneft JSC, a subsidiary of Transneft PJSC, in Novorossiysk, Russia, on Oct. 11, 2022, one of the largest facilities for oil and petroleum products in southern Russia. After a year of far-reaching sanctions aimed at degrading Moscow's war chest, economic life for ordinary Russians doesn't look all that different than it did before the invasion of Ukraine. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Russian state-run Sberbank headquarters in downtown Moscow, Russia on July 29, 2014. After a year of far-reaching sanctions aimed at degrading Moscow's war chest, economic life for ordinary Russians doesn't look all that different than it did before the invasion of Ukraine. But with restrictions finally tightening on the Kremlin's chief moneymaker — oil — the months ahead will be an even tougher test of President Vladimir Putin's fortress economy. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)
FILE - People line up to visit a newly opened restaurant in a former McDonald's outlet in Bolshaya Bronnaya Street in Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 25, 2023. Crowds might have thinned at some Moscow malls, but not drastically. Some foreign companies like McDonald's and Starbucks have been taken over by local owners who slapped different names on essentially the same menu. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
FILE - People wait in a line to pay for her purchases at the IKEA store on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia, on March 3, 2022. Furniture and home goods remaining after IKEA exited Russia are being sold off on the Yandex website. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking at a news conference following a meeting of the State Council at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 22, 2022. Russia's economy has weathered the West's unprecedented economic sanctions far better than expected. But with restrictions finally tightening on the Kremlin's chief moneymaker — oil — the months ahead will be an even tougher test of President Vladimir Putin's fortress economy. (Sergey Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, second left, accompanied by Russian Presidential Envoy to Ural Federal District Vladimir Yakushev, left, visits the Uralvagonzavod factory in Nizhny Tagil in Nizhny Tagil, Russia, on Oct. 24, 2022. Russia has weathered sweeping Western economic sanctions better than many expected. (Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP, File)
A view of the Audi Center Altufievo one of 36 dealerships of Avtodom in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Krasnodar, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 10, 2023. The auto industry is facing bigger hurdles to adapt. Western automakers, including Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, have left Russia. Foreign cars are still available but far fewer of them and for higher prices, said Andrei Olkhovsky, CEO of Avtodom, which has 36 dealerships in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Krasnodar. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
People walk past a Sviaznoy mobile phone shop in a shopping mall in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, March 10, 2023. Apple has stopped selling products in Russia, but Wildberries, the country's biggest online retailer, offers the iPhone 14 for about the same price as in Europe. Online retailer Svaznoy lists Apple AirPods Pro. (AP Photo)
FILE - Few visitors pass inside the GUM department store with lots of boutiques closed due to sanctions in Moscow, Russia, on June 1, 2022. U.S. officials say Russia is now the most sanctioned country in the world. But as the war nears its one-year mark, it's clear the sanctions didn't pack the instantaneous punch that many had hoped. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
New made "Moskvich" cars are seen at the assembly shop of Moscow Automobile Plant "Moskvich" with the banner reads: "Moskvich (Muscovite) returns" in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. The auto industry is facing bigger hurdles to adapt. Russia launched production of the Moskvich car brand at a plant near Moscow given up by the French carmaker Renault, with a new, modern Chinese design that barely resembles the Soviet-era classic. (Kirill Zykov, Moscow News Agency via AP)
A view of the Dealership Mercedes-Benz "Avilon" in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 11, 2023. The auto industry is facing bigger hurdles to adapt. Western automakers, including Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, have left Russia, but foreign cars are still available but far fewer of them and for higher prices. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)
FILE - Newly built nuclear-powered icebreaker Ural, third of five icebreakers of Project 22220, begins its passage from the Baltiysky Shipyard to the northern city of Murmansk, in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Nov. 23, 2022. After a year of far-reaching sanctions aimed at degrading Moscow's war chest, economic life for ordinary Russians doesn't look all that different than it did before the invasion of Ukraine. But with restrictions finally tightening on the Kremlin's chief moneymaker — oil — the months ahead will be an even tougher test of President Vladimir Putin's fortress economy. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, File)
FILE - A logo of a newly opened Stars Coffee in the former location of a Starbucks in Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 24, 2023. Crowds might have thinned at some Moscow malls, but not drastically. Some foreign companies like McDonald's and Starbucks have been taken over by local owners who slapped different names on essentially the same menu. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
FILE - New vehicles Gazelle are parked in the territory of the Gorky Automobile plant (GAZ), one of the main budget-forming enterprises in the region in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on Aug. 11, 2022. After a year of far-reaching sanctions aimed at degrading Moscow's war chest, economic life for ordinary Russians doesn't look all that different than it did before the invasion of Ukraine. But with restrictions finally tightening on the Kremlin's chief moneymaker — oil — the months ahead will be an even tougher test of President Vladimir Putin's fortress economy. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - People line up to enter an H&M shop and buy items on sale in the Aviapark shopping mall in Moscow, Russia, on Aug. 9, 2022. Russians are snapping up While 191 foreign companies have left Russia and 1,169 are working to do so, some 1,223 are staying and 496 are taking a wait-and-see approach, according to a database compiled by the Kyiv School of Economics. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
FILE - Men walk at the Nokian Tyres tire manufacturing plant in Vsevolozhsk, outside St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 29, 2022. Russia's economy has weathered the West's unprecedented economic sanctions far better than expected. But with restrictions finally tightening on the Kremlin's chief moneymaker — oil — the months ahead will be an even tougher test of President Vladimir Putin's fortress economy. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, File)
