Donald Trump interrupted his crunch meeting with European leaders on Monday (August 18) to call Vladimir Putin, it has been reported. According to German news outlet Bild, he took the call in a different part of the White House from where he was meeting with the European leaders. President Trump initially said he would call the Russian leader after meeting with European leaders - including Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, in Washington.
This comes after the US President gave a major update about the possibility of a trilateral meeting between himself, Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin. At the end of his meeting in the Oval Office with Mr Zelensky on Monday, Mr Trump said Putin was expecting a call from him.
Asked whether any aspects of his conversation with Putin left him "disappointed", the US president replied: "We're going to have a phone call right after these meetings today and we may or may not have a trilat. If we don't have a trilat, then the fighting continues and if we do, we have a good chance, I think if we have a trilat, there's a good chance of maybe ending it. But he's expecting my call when we're finished with this meeting."
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