Trump and Putin plot 'removal of Zelensky' after White House bust up

A leading Finnish geopolitical analyst believes that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin could use their upcoming summit in Hungary to discuss plans to remove Volodymyr Zelensky from power. The Ukrainian President visited the White House last Friday to ostensibly discuss plans to buy Tomahawk cruise missiles from the US army.

Ukraine wants to use the long-range rockets to better target Russia's energy infrastructure, as it seeks to further disrupt the Kremlin's war economy. However, the much anticipated meeting soon descended into acrimony, as the two presidents once again clashed. Sources told the Financial Times that a "shouting match" ensued and that at one point Trump even tossed away a map showing the front line in Ukraine.

The US President is also said to have warned Zelensky to make a deal with Putin or face being "destroyed" by Russia.

Putin is reported to have made a small concession in his phone call with Trump on Thursday prior to Zelensky's White House meeting, during which it was agreed to hold another peace summit. The Russian President is said to have offered to return some territory in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in exchange for Ukraine withdrawing from the areas it still controls in Donetsk.

However, Zelensky once again stressed that this was a non-starter for Kyiv, saying he had "made it clear" to Trump "that Ukraine's stance in this context remains unchanged".

Tuomas Malinen - a geopolitical analysts and professor at the University of Helsinki - argued in a post to his X social media page that Trump and Putin may decide to jointly move against Zelensky at the upcoming Budapest summit.

"So, the meeting in the White House reportedly descended into a shouting match. What a surprise (not)," he wrote.

"It is interesting to see whether @POTUS and President Putin finally agree on the removal of President @ZelenskyyUa from power in Budapest. There'll not be peace otherwise."

The Ukrainian President insisted on Monday the only impediment to a peace deal was Putin.

He told reporters: "Trump wants a quick victory - an end to the war - and that would be a victory for all reasonable people.

"Putin, however, wants the total occupation of Ukraine."

The US President told reporters at the White House on Monday that he still believed Ukraine could win the war, but thought it unlikely. "Anything could happen," he said. "War is a very strange thing."