In a follow up to his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, President Trump sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European and NATO leaders on Monday in hopes of striking a peace deal. But according to some CNN journalists and experts, during CNN News Central, Trump was actually working on behalf of Putin and Russia, acting like their puppet, rather than looking out for the lives being lost.
After blaming Trump for getting off topic during a media spray with talk of U.S. elections and crime in Washington, D.C., rather than the journalists who asked, co-host Boris Sanchez teed up CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier to suggest Trump needed to obtain Putin’s “approval” ahead of making any moves:
SANCHEZ: The president was also asked about mail-in voting and a couple of other issues, but we'll focus on the big headline, which is Kim, that President Trump said that as soon as these meetings wrap, he's going to call Vladimir Putin and perhaps schedule a trilateral meeting.
DOZIER: Yeah. The fact that he feels he feels he's got to check in with Putin right away and that, just as this meeting is taking place, we get news that Putin is saying, ‘By the way, no NATO troops on the ground in Ukraine, that is unacceptable.’ Still feels like Trump needs Putin's approval in a way that's got to be very disturbing to Zelenskyy sitting there.
“But of course, Zelenskyy was a good actor. He's playing it cool. He's not biting on any of the questions he got,” Dozier praised the Ukrainian leader.
She followed up with hopes that the European leaders would give Trump a message to pass along to Putin: “And hopefully, what's going to happen is they're going to go into this meeting with European officials and the Europeans are saying, ‘we need to put these troops on the ground inside Ukraine and it's not Vladimir Putin's business.’”
Dozier’s bubble was popped pretty quickly by CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny, who pointed out that Trump seemed to be cementing his support for Ukraine:
I was struck that the president, Trump did not rule out the idea of sending U.S. troops as part of this security guarantee. That is significant. Also, President Trump saying it's never the end of the road in terms of U.S. involvement. There are many people in the president's orbit who would like him to essentially wash his hands and move on from this.
Dozier seemed to not realize that when negotiating between multiple parties, one must contact all parties to ensure buy in from all on what ever plan was being worked on.
In the 2 p.m. hour, CNN senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen (reporting from Moscow, Russia) took the bait set out by Russia. Pleitgen brought Russian propaganda to CNN’s American audience by suggesting Trump and Putin were “very much on the same page” citing how Russians just exuding optimism after that summit.”
“As far as not wanting a direct ceasefire, but rather going for a negotiations process, at the end of which would be a larger peace agreement that, in effect, is what Vladimir Putin has been calling for the entire time,” he added.
That stood in stark contrast to the comments made by the European and NATO leaders who met with Trump and seemed encouraged by the direction things seemed to be headed in.
The transcripts are below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN News Central
August 18, 2025
1:47:27 p.m. Eastern(…)
BORIS SANCHEZ: The president was also asked about mail-in voting and a couple of other issues, but we'll focus on the big headline, which is Kim, that President Trump said that as soon as these meetings wrap, he's going to call Vladimir Putin and perhaps schedule a trilateral meeting.
KIMBERLY DOZIER: Yeah. The fact that he feels he feels he's got to check in with Putin right away and that, just as this meeting is taking place, we get news that Putin is saying, ‘By the way, no NATO troops on the ground in Ukraine, that is unacceptable.’ Still feels like Trump needs Putin's approval in a way that's got to be very disturbing to Zelenskyy sitting there.
But of course, Zelenskyy was a good actor. He's playing it cool. He's not biting on any of the questions he got. And hopefully, what's going to happen is they're going to go into this meeting with European officials and the Europeans are saying, ‘we need to put these troops on the ground inside Ukraine and it's not Vladimir Putin's business.’
BRIANNA KEILAR: What did you think, Jeff?
JEFF ZELENY: I was struck that the president, Trump did not rule out the idea of sending U.S. troops as part of this security guarantee. That is significant. Also, President Trump saying it's never the end of the road in terms of U.S. involvement. There are many people in the president's orbit who would like him to essentially wash his hands and move on from this.
(…)
2:07:25 p.m. Eastern
FREDERIK PLEITGEN: But I think right now the Trump administration believes it can possibly move things forward. The Kremlin is clearly waiting to see what happens. But over the past couple of days, Brianna, what we've seen here in Moscow is really the Russians just exuding optimism after that summit between President Trump and Vladimir Putin, where they believe that the Trump administration is now very much on the same page as the Putin administration. As far as not wanting a direct ceasefire, but rather going for a negotiations process, at the end of which would be a larger peace agreement that, in effect, is what Vladimir Putin has been calling for the entire time. Brianna.
(…)
