Trump Says It’s ‘Time for Somebody Else’ to Negotiate for Ukraine as Envoys Head to Norway for Talks

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (TodayViralUSA) — President Donald Trump on Monday said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should step aside from negotiating for his country and signaled he would be willing to meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping about ending the war, even if Zelenskyy were not present.

“I think it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a campaign rally in Kansas. Asked about a possible meeting with Putin and Xi, he said he would do “anything I can do to end the war, whether somebody’s there or not.”

A widening rift

The remarks were Trump’s latest broadside at Zelenskyy, who told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that siding with Russia would be a “historic mistake.” “Zelenskyy doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Trump said Monday. “Zelenskyy is a man that should have had this war settled a long time ago.”

Tensions have climbed after Trump on Friday waived broad sanctions on Russia that Congress passed with bipartisan support and he signed into law last month, and after a separate arrangement allowing Russian diesel onto the global market. Trump said he did not want to “break up negotiations” with Putin over Ukraine, Iran, diesel and the release of hostages.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Putin floated a three-way summit with Xi during an Oct. 9 call with Trump, possibly at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Shenzhen, China, on Nov. 18 and 19. “If President Xi wants to have it, I’d have it,” Trump said.

Starlink and intelligence complaints

Zelenskyy, speaking by video to a bipartisan group of House and Senate members on Monday, said Ukraine is still facing speed limits on SpaceX’s Starlink and its military version, Starshield, and has received no early warning of Russian missile strikes from the U.S. and its partners several times in recent days. “No explanation for either of these issues has been provided to Ukraine by the American side,” he said. Trump said he did not know who ordered the Starlink interruption, “but I’d like to find out.”

Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said after the call that “funding Russia’s war machine, disabling Ukraine’s satellite communications, and crippling its air defense are all impediments to peace.”

Talks in Norway

Despite the friction, U.S. and Ukrainian officials are expected to meet in Norway this week for another round of negotiations, NBC News reported, citing people familiar with the plans. Zelenskyy said Ukraine is in constant contact with special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and hopes to meet them “maybe in Norway in the coming days.”

Update — Oct. 20, 2026: Talks in Oslo as Rubio rejects Kyiv’s claims

Zelenskyy held talks in Oslo on Tuesday with special envoy Steve Witkoff, who traveled in person, while Jared Kushner joined by videoconference, according to the Norwegian government. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb also took part. Støre said Ukraine had asked for the U.S. envoys to be included and that the goal was “to steer diplomatic efforts in a more constructive direction.”

Ahead of the meeting, Zelenskyy said he had “a substantive conversation” with Secretary of State Marco Rubio about missile interceptors, early warnings of ballistic missile attacks and the Starshield restrictions. Rubio told reporters at the start of a trip to India that nothing had changed in U.S. support for Ukraine. “There’s nothing being deliberately denied to Ukraine,” he said, calling suggestions otherwise “scandalous” and “outrageous.” On interceptors, he said the U.S. must balance commitments to other partners against its own needs: “When a country doesn’t get interceptors from the United States, it’s not because we are denying. We have our own needs too.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he hoped Trump’s envoys could hold a meeting in Russia “in the near future,” NBC News reported, though he gave no date.