President Donald Trump said he had a “very good talk” with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, ahead of his arrival in Turkey for the Nato summit. He also spoke with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “I think they both want to make a deal. It’s too bad it took so long,” Trump told reporters, though he had previously pledged to resolve the conflict on his first day back in the White House.
Mr Trump repeated his frustration with Nato member states during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. He criticised allies for not contributing enough to the alliance and for declining to join US strikes against Iran. “We weren’t treated well,” he said, adding that the decision by outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to allow US forces to use British airbases for “defensive” strikes on Iran was “a very unpopular thing”.
The US leader landed in Ankara aboard his new Qatari-gifted Air Force One plane and was greeted by President Erdogan and his wife Emine on a turquoise carpet. The two leaders posed for photos before holding talks at the presidential palace, ahead of the main Nato summit sessions.
