Trump backs Putin after tense meeting with Zelensky

US President Donald Trump has signaled a shift in support for Russia’s Vladimir Putin as he seeks a quick end to the war in Ukraine, which is likely to sow fear among Ukrainian officials.

Trump held a tense meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday, with the potential supply of long-range US cruise missiles, the Tomahawks, on the agenda.

Zelensky left the meeting not only empty-handed, but apparently chastised by Trump, who said Ukraine should accept Russia’s terms to end the war — ceding the entire eastern territory of Donbas, the epicenter of Ukraine’s ongoing fighting.

Speaking to reporters over the weekend, Trump said Donbass would be “cut off as it is.”

“It’s divided right now, I think 78% of the territory is already taken by Russia,” he said Sunday on Air Force One. “They should stop at the battle lines right now… Go home, stop killing people and get it over with.”

During the meeting with Zelensky, Trump also warned the Ukrainian leader that Putin had told him — during a lengthy phone call Thursday in which they agreed to hold in-person talks in Hungary — that Russia would “destroy” Ukraine if it did not agree to that demand.

The meeting between Trump and Zelensky devolved into a “shouting argument,” the Financial Times reported, with Trump “cursing all the time,” according to anonymous people familiar with the matter cited by the FT.

In an article for Truth Social, Trump described the meeting as “very interesting and cordial” but said he had “strongly suggested” to both leaders that it was time to end the war.

“Let both claim Victory, let History decide!” he said in the post Friday.

Zelensky showed courage, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in an interview recorded Friday after the meeting with Trump that “we are not losing this war, and Putin is not winning.” He also remained optimistic even though he left the White House without the Tomahawk missiles he coveted.

“It’s good that President Trump didn’t say ‘no,’ but for today he didn’t say ‘yes,'” Zelensky told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in the interview that aired Sunday.

He also said he was ready to join the next summit between Putin and Trump in Budapest, which could take place in the coming weeks. However, it remains to be seen whether Zelensky will be invited to Hungary.

In addition to refusing to supply Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, something Trump had previously discussed in an apparent effort to bring Russia to the negotiating table, Trump also considered giving security guarantees to kyiv and Moscow, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the negotiations.

CNBC has contacted the White House for further comment and is awaiting a response.

Supporters close to the Trump-Putin-Zelensky relationship fear that the US president will be easily swayed by the Russian veteran’s arguments on Ukraine. They say Trump does not appear ready or willing to put more pressure on Putin, whether in the form of more arms transfers to kyiv or more economic restrictions on Russia.

“We keep dismissing Donald Trump as ‘everyone’s crazy’ because he’s so bombastic and says a lot of things off the cuff, but he’s actually very transactional about the relationship,” Nina Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at the New School, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday.

“Everyone keeps pulling him one way or the other, whether it’s the Russian side or the Ukrainian side. But he doesn’t take sides and he really plays, interestingly, with both hands.”

She noted that Trump still wants to convince Putin, but also keeps him “in check,” as evidenced by his threat to supply more weapons to Ukraine.

“So far, I think it’s working. It’s not giving either side what they wanted, but it’s continuing, and eventually, potentially, they could agree on some sort of peace deal,” she said.

Michael O’Hanlon, director of foreign policy research at the Brookings Institution, told CNBC that Putin would likely wait until Trump exits.

“I think it would be more effective (for Trump) to combine the military threat with greater economic pressure, but maybe we’ll see that comes later,” he noted Friday.

O’Hanlon said there are several ways the United States could increase pressure on Moscow, including another U.S. aid package for Ukraine and a greater crackdown on Russia’s “ghost fleet” of tankers facilitating Russian oil shipments to circumvent the oil price cap and sanctions.

“We don’t do a lot of trade with Russia, but, of course, other countries do, and I think it’s time to talk not only to India, but also to China about a strategy where they would consider reducing their interaction, their economic interaction, and you would threaten secondary sanctions if you don’t get that kind of help,” he said.

“So those are the different pieces. They don’t all have to happen at exactly the same minute, and they can happen. They can be phased in, but I think President Trump is a little too obsessed with the Tomahawks, as well as his personal relationship with Putin, and I don’t think that’s going to be enough (to stop Russia).”