US officials bound for Europe for top-level talks on Ukraine

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Sunday that top administration officials will meet with European officials this week about how to end the war in Ukraine, nearly three years after Russia launched an all-out invasion.

Less than a day earlier, the New York Post reported that Trump had a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss steps toward a negotiated solution . Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to the Super Bowl in New Orleans, Trump declined to discuss his reported phone conversation with Putin.

“I don’t want to do that. We’re trying to end that war. It’s a war that would have never happened if I were president, it would have never happened, but we’re making progress. But I can’t tell you,” he said.

Asked to clarify whether his conversations with Putin took place before he took office or after, Trump said, “I’ve had it. Let’s just say I’ve had it. And I expect to have many more conversations. We have to get that war ended. It’s going to end.”

There was no immediate confirmation of the call by the Kremlin.

Waltz: Europe needs to take bigger role in the conflict

In a television interview, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said the Russian economy is not doing well and that Trump “is prepared to tax, to tariff, to sanction” Moscow to get Putin to the negotiating table. Waltz also underscored that the Trump administration is looking to use this week’s engagements to begin talks on clawing back some of the United States’ assistance to Ukraine . He said European allies will also need to take a greater role in supporting Ukraine going forward.

“We need to recoup those costs and that is going to be a partnership with the Ukrainians in terms of their natural resources and their oil and gas and also buying ours,” Waltz said in an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press. “Those conversations are going to happen this week. And I think an underlying principle here is that the Europeans have to own this conflict going forward. President Trump is going to end it. And then in terms of security guarantees, that is squarely going to be with the Europeans.’’

Vice President JD Vance will be in Paris on Monday for an artificial intelligence summit that’s gathering government officials and will head later in the week to the Munich Security Conference, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will lead the battle-weary country’s delegation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump’s special envoy on Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, will also be in Munich.

On Wednesday, Hegseth will join the main international forum for drumming up weapons and ammunition for Ukraine. He's set to participate in a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels the following day.

Kyiv under pressure as Russian troops advance and Trump floats talks with Putin

Putin is closer than ever to achieving his objectives in battle-weary Ukraine, with little incentive to come to the negotiating table, no matter how much Trump might cajole or threaten him, according to Russian and Western experts interviewed by The Associated Press .

Putin has previously said Trump was “clever and pragmatic,” and even parroted his false claims of having won the 2020 election. Trump’s opening gambit was to call Putin “smart” and to threaten Russia with tariffs and oil price cuts, which the Kremlin brushed off.

Trump boasted during the presidential election campaign that he could end the war in 24 hours, which later became six months. He’s indicated the U.S. is talking to Russia about Ukraine without Kyiv’s input, saying his administration already had “very serious” discussions.

That would run counter to the Biden administration’s position that echoed Zelenskyy’s call of “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.” The Ukrainian leader has suggested any peace deal reached without Kyiv’s input would send the dangerous signal that adventurism pays to authoritarian leaders in China, North Korea and Iran.

Meanwhile, Trump has hinted he and Putin could soon take “significant” action toward ending the war, in which Russia is suffering heavy casualties daily while its economy endures stiff Western sanctions, inflation and a serious labor shortage. But the economy has not collapsed, and because Putin has unleashed the harshest crackdown on dissent since Soviet times, he faces no domestic pressure to end the war.

Ukraine hopes to make its case in Munich

Andriy Yermak, a top Zelenskyy adviser who will attend the Munich security conference, has told AP the Ukrainian delegation will use its platform to present Kyiv’s position on ending the war . He said Kyiv hopes to discuss what security guarantees could be put in place to prevent repeated aggression by Russia.

The Munich summit comes at a pivotal moment for Ukraine, which is striving to establish a relationship with the new U.S. administration, a key partner during its yearslong war against Russia.

Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Paris and Darlene Superville, traveling aboard Air Force One, contributed.

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的国家安全顾问周日表示，政府高级官员本周将与欧洲官员会面，讨论如何结束乌克兰战争。这场战争发生在俄罗斯发动全面入侵近三年之后。

不到一天前，《纽约邮报》报道称，特朗普与俄罗斯领导人普京通了电话，讨论通过谈判解决问题的措施。在飞往新奥尔良观看超级碗的空军一号上，特朗普对记者表示，他拒绝就与普京的通话内容发表评论。

“我不想那样做。我们正在努力结束这场战争。如果我是总统，这场战争根本不会发生，绝对不会发生，但我们正在取得进展。但我不能告诉你具体情况，”他说。

当被问及他与普京的谈话是在他上任之前还是之后进行时，特朗普说：“我受够了。就这么说吧，我受够了。而且我预计还会进行更多谈话。我们必须结束这场战争。它终将结束。”

克里姆林宫方面尚未立即证实此次通话。

沃尔兹：欧洲需要在冲突中发挥更大的作用

在一次电视采访中，国家安全顾问迈克·沃尔兹表示，俄罗斯经济形势不佳，特朗普“准备对莫斯科征税、加征关税、实施制裁”，以迫使普京重返谈判桌。沃尔兹还强调，特朗普政府希望利用本周的会晤，开始就收回美国对乌克兰的部分援助进行谈判。他表示，欧洲盟友也需要在未来对乌克兰的支持中发挥更大的作用。

沃尔兹在NBC的《会见媒体》节目中表示：“我们需要收回这些成本，而这将需要与乌克兰建立伙伴关系，包括利用他们的自然资源、石油和天然气，以及购买我们的资源。这些对话将在本周进行。我认为一个基本原则是，欧洲人必须承担起这场冲突的责任。特朗普总统将会结束这场冲突。至于安全保障，那将完全由欧洲人负责。”

副总统约翰·迪安·万斯将于周一抵达巴黎，出席汇聚各国政府官员的人工智能峰会。本周晚些时候，他将前往慕尼黑参加安全会议，乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基将率领这个饱受战争蹂躏的国家的代表团出席会议。国务卿马可·卢比奥、国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯以及特朗普总统的乌克兰和俄罗斯问题特使基思·凯洛格也将出席慕尼黑会议。

周三，赫格塞斯将参加为乌克兰争取武器弹药的主要国际论坛。第二天，他还将出席在布鲁塞尔举行的北约国防部长会议。

随着俄军推进，基辅面临压力，特朗普也提出与普京会谈。

据美联社采访的俄罗斯和西方专家称，普京比以往任何时候都更接近在饱受战争蹂躏的乌克兰实现其目标，无论特朗普如何哄骗或威胁他，他都没有多少动力坐到谈判桌前。

普京此前曾称特朗普“聪明务实”，甚至鹦鹉学舌般地重复了他关于自己赢得2020年大选的虚假声明。特朗普的开场白是称普京“聪明”，并威胁要对俄罗斯加征关税和降低油价，但克里姆林宫对此不以为意。

特朗普在总统竞选期间曾吹嘘他能在24小时内结束战争，但后来战争持续了六个月。他暗示美国正在与俄罗斯就乌克兰问题进行对话，而基辅方面并未参与，并称他的政府已经就此进行了“非常严肃”的讨论。

这将与拜登政府的立场背道而驰，拜登政府的立场呼应了泽连斯基“没有乌克兰参与，就不要谈乌克兰”的呼吁。这位乌克兰领导人暗示，任何未经基辅参与而达成的和平协议，都会发出危险的信号，即冒险主义对中国、朝鲜和伊朗等国的威权领导人有利可图。

与此同时，特朗普暗示他和普京可能很快会采取“重大”行动来结束这场战争。这场战争中，俄罗斯每天都遭受惨重伤亡，其经济也面临着西方严厉制裁、通货膨胀和严重的劳动力短缺。但俄罗斯经济尚未崩溃，而且由于普京对异见人士的镇压力度达到了苏联时代以来的顶峰，因此他在国内没有面临结束战争的压力。

乌克兰希望在慕尼黑陈述自己的立场。

泽连斯基的高级顾问安德烈·叶尔马克将出席慕尼黑安全会议。他告诉美联社，乌克兰代表团将利用此次会议平台阐述基辅在结束战争问题上的立场。他说，基辅希望讨论可以采取哪些安全保障措施来防止俄罗斯再次发动侵略。

慕尼黑峰会对乌克兰来说是一个关键时刻，乌克兰正努力与新一届美国政府建立关系，而美国是乌克兰在多年抗俄战争中的关键伙伴。

美联社驻巴黎记者阿默·马德哈尼和乘坐空军一号的记者达琳·苏珀维尔对此文亦有贡献。