Zelenskyy refuses Putin talks as Trump pushes for Alaska summit meeting

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Tammy Bruce: Putin peace talks 'wouldn't be possible without Trump'

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce joins 'MediaBuzz' to weigh in on President Donald Trump's push for peace in Ukraine and Gaza.

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Tammy Bruce, the State Department spokeswoman, told me in an interview that the president is strategically positioned to stop the fighting in Ukraine.

"The point is that the killing has to end," she said on "Media Buzz." "And if there’s anybody who can confront and deal with and manage Putin, it is Donald Trump."

ZELENSKYY URGES DIRECT TALKS WITH PUTIN AS TRUMP SETS PEACE DEADLINE

But what if it’s Putin who’s managing Trump? And how can there be any kind of settlement when Volodymyr Zelenskyy is refusing to participate, saying the Kremlin dictator is trying to deceive America?

Trump addressed this yesterday, at his news conference on the feds taking over the D.C. police department–and let’s just say he made a point of lowering expectations.

President Donald Trump, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands at the beginning of a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

One thing that’s impossible to ignore is that whenever Trump threatens sanctions against Moscow, he finds a way to avoid following through. Remember the 50-day deadline? And then the 10-day deadline?

Putin has been diplomatically isolated since his illegal invasion of Ukraine, which has featured the deliberate killing of civilians. 
By inviting him to Alaska–which America bought from Russia in 1867 and is no longer deemed "Seward’s Folly" – Trump is granting Putin respect as a legitimate world leader, not a pariah.

Putin’s plan all along has been to make gains on the battlefield and then hold onto all or most of that land in any settlement. That’s why he’s continued to intensively bomb Ukraine, killing more civilians, even amid the chatter about peace.

Zelenskyy says he can’t cede any land because that would violate the country’s constitution. It would also create a political firestorm at home. But a recent poll says 38 percent of Ukrainians are willing to give up some territory to end the war.

TRUMP BLASTS ZELENSKYY FOR CONSTITUTIONAL OBJECTION TO 'LAND SWAPPING' IN UKRAINE WAR

Trump has talked about "some swapping of territories," but Ukraine doesn’t have much to swap. The country took over 500 square miles in a surprise attack in the Russian area of Kursk, but that has dwindled to just four square miles and came at the cost of significant casualties.

So this could be a repeat of what happened when Russia seized Crimea in 2014. The world was outraged, and then everything went back to normal.

As for Putin, Trump told reporters yesterday, "I’d have a great call with him and then missiles would be lobbed into Kyiv."
"I’m going to be telling him to end this war."

"I get along with Zelenskyy but I disagree with what he’s done."

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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 13, 2025.  (Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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